***Warning: following comment is not directed at any article, author, or commenter - I appreciate the opportunity to provide it nonetheless***
PS - I have been finding myself pondering on our (humanity at large) propensity to surrender our true freedoms for the promise, the fabled hope, the enticing doctrines of safety, security, and self-realization which are being offered by those who have neither the capability or even the conscious desire to actually deliver. While at the very same moment (as Paul noted in his introduction to the letter he wrote to those in Rome) willfully ignoring the one and only Person who has not only promised but (by His very act of creating us in His Image and Likeness and giving us the ability and freedom to decide for ourselves) proven that He can actually deliver what we desire by trusting Him.
Those "ponderings" have encouraged me to follow the example given by Daniel and Jeremiah and, yes, even Jesus Himself: to intercede for us all that we might have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that understand!
Excellent!! HGV, I think the fact of Satan’s insidious methods is directly involved in what we’ve observed, given what God’s word tells us about his (and our) nature.
I take advantage of your comment to ask your opinion and Christian view on this question if you can help (thanks to Featherjourney 🪶 and ALtab for their own useful answers! 🙏🏻🙏🏻):
You may find my reply less provocative than might be imagined.
I began my career in banking - which matters here because it is where I learned that the best way to identify counterfeit currency was to only handle real bills. We never touched anything else.
We also learned that (back in those days) it was important to stack all your money facing the same way and never count the denomination on the corner of the bills but the faces on them (folks would tape the number of a larger denominated bill on the corners of smaller bills in the hopes of having a five dollar bill counted as a twenty - for example).
These two lessons have carried over to how I approach the Bible. Which means I spend only a small amount of time looking into philosophies or doctrines outside of the Bible (i.e., I don't research the Book of Enoch - though I have read it) and I take it literally that EVERYTHING that is, was, or ever will be WAS created by Almighty God. Also, there is a reason that God allowed the adversary into the garden (a topic I have written about a lot!) but that it being allowed did not mean the He endorsed its methods - as Jesus said, the adversary is a liar and (in essence) if it is speaking it is lying!
My experience tells me that many of the speculative doctrines that attempt to tie-in to the Biblical accounts are encouraged by a misunderstanding of the core principles of the Word of God. (Any expertise takes time and dedication - that is true of the science and art of hermeneutics too!) For example when Jesus warned His followers that the day would come when many would declare to be their Messiah - and so lead many away from the truth - I believe He was specifically speaking of the kind of mixture that Paul, Peter and John dealt with: people trying to present Jesus as a phantom or spirit instead of accepting His own testimony that He was a sinless man. Or those who took (take) the other perspective that He was just a man - and (usually added) that He never claimed to be the Only Begotten Son of Almighty God (which mean that He is God - the only Pre-existent being)!
Both of those off-shoots are resolved by a patient review of all that we have been given in His Word and with help of the enlightenment that God (in the person of the Holy Spirit, Who was sent to lead us into all Truth) provides.
I am afraid a more thorough answer would require reviewing many of the posts that can be found here on substack. Which I understand is a bit challenging even for folks whose first language is English 😊.
PS - ALtab has gone through many of my posts - she may be able to help clarify or even recommend specific ones that might clarify.
In what could be the biggest move of the year to date Trump 2.0 repealed the Obummer-Era EPA Climate Ruling. World Changing! This neuters all the DS Rat Bastard Dimorat energy crying. Their WSJ opinion is simply laughable.
I cannot wait for the 2020 voter fraud confirmation to drop… what fun😊
Also, I cannot wait to see Trump drop the hammer on Mexico drug cartels… Glorious!
BB: “This is the Hegelian Nightmare in its purest form: existential threats woven into the fabric of the Story”
The Democrat playbook, forming a narrative of Oligarchy vs Democracy, framing the billionaire class in scandal (via Epstein files). Trump was right! This is a democrat HOAX, used for distraction against the factories being built, jobs created, the economy freed from the environmental regulations…
All of which makes me realize we are living in a version of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged! The version of our times is, as BB has been pointing out for years, a narrative war between Truth and lies.
The precipice Q referred to is the ultimate battle between the ability (through common sense and reason) to discern Truth through the fog of democrat-fabricated illusions.
As Barbara Boyd put it: ‘the democrat narrative is their midterm weapon’
Problem is, IMO, that these folks thought they knew how it would all play out. Or maybe, how they wanted it to play out. Basically, they were 'thinking' too much as in, can't see the forest for the trees.
Remember Mark Twain told us "It is easier to fool someone, than to convince them they've been fooled." A similar dynamic is at play here. The more sure you are that you know something (even if you don't), the harder it is to realize and admit that you were wrong. Corollary to Twain: "It is easier to fool yourself, than to admit you were wrong."
Trying to find the thread (might have been from yesterday) on energy.
Anyone who’s ever watched Steven Greer’s documentaries is wondering about the zero point energy field.
From his website:
“ For over 100 years, advances in electromagnetic systems have allowed for the creation of over-unity (more out-put than manmade input) power generation via the zero point energy (ZPE) field and quantum vacuum. These have been suppressed by way of a number of means both legal and illegal. To date, no inventor, corporation, research team or university has been able to surmount these obstacles.”
Makes one wonder if this is something happening behind the scenes, but highly classified? Did someone overcome the obstacles? When Trump keeps mentioning the corporations will have to generate their own energy without impacting current energy prices for us, I have to seriously think there has been some major breakthrough kept hidden until the perfect moment. If everyone here is correct, we won’t have the ability to generate this quantity of energy short term as goal, oil, natural gas apparently aren’t sufficient and nuclear takes a lot of time to get it to production. Lots of questions, few (if any) answers!
Yes, he has…so, I wonder if he’s pointing to a new revelation he knows is coming? Maybe just waiting until the cabal is too weak to use it against us? The Art of War comes to mind.
I am loving Sergey Lavrov and trying to picture how he and “The Donald” might have been crossing paths in their respective roles in NYC circa 87-88. ❤️
"Lavrov began his diplomatic career in Sri Lanka and speaks fluent Sinhala, Dhivehi, English, and French, in addition to his native Russian. From 1981 to 1988 he held several posts in the Soviet Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City. Starting in the late 1980s he was deputy director and then director of the Foreign Ministry's Department of International Organizations"
They must have many opportunities to meet for any reason... 😉🤗
And that island is sinking into the sea, as global temperatures rise... or at least, so [they] believe.
Or do they really? I believe [they] know that all of their propaganda is BS, used to keep us from achieving the future that God (and now Trump) want for us. It is there for us to claim, but first we must free ourselves from the grip of [their] propaganda.
—-BB’s captured the true purpose of our would-be enslavers…through the corrupt part of our government here via the fake news, ‘This is the Hegelian Nightmare in its purest form: existential threats woven into the fabric of the Story, where progress itself is painted as planetary suicide, where abundance is recast as greed and where the very technologies that once promised a retro-futurist Golden Age are demonized as inverted world-enders.’ They sure don’t want we serfs to have prosperity.
—-Ashe notes the structure Trump is managing for these companies and posits this good observation for our consideration, ‘Remember the way solar fields shaped our reality? The President seems to be getting ahead of AI’s threat to do the same.’
—-Given all we’ve learned from Ghost on the Middle East, I agree with his assessment here, ‘He flew all that way and walked away with nothing. But honestly, in this situation, no news is good news.’👀. We continue watching.
—-Ashe, read your assessment re the election, then got to the part of Kurt Olsen’s background and my eyes popped, ‘Before all that, he was a Navy Seal.’ He appears to be integral to the ‘we have it all’ narrative.
—There are several areas that Ghost covers, and his assessments shine! Africa is one and bears close watching….for many, many reasons.👀
—-Mexico isn’t our friend. Either way, it’s an invasion and the article Ghost found leads us back to Prussia (disguised as Israel)?
Has the EMP technology advanced to be able to employ a laser-type focus? Is that how they took out the drones? For the plans Mexico has, including its other widespread invasions, Peter Schweizer’s new book, ‘The Invisible Coup’ is a must read. Plus, it’s NOT full of so-called anonymous sources.
—-Pam Bondi rocks!
—-MKULTRA has been underground for decades now….obviously still capable of its evil.
Prosperity: no, [they] most certainly do not want us to have it. They are sort of like Gollum slinking around looking for 'my precious.' Slimy and gross, but undeterred in their determination to have it all.
Mexico: Remember that the people of Mexico are indeed our friends, as are the people of most nations. It is the government that is the problem. As it is in Iran and most everywhere else -- even (perhaps especially) with our 'special friend' the UK.
EMP: This is the effect caused by a nuclear weapon detonating above the ionosphere. More likely that they used a DEW -- Directed Energy Weapon. And yes, those have been developed to the point that they can shoot down aircraft and missiles, so drones would be easy targets. They have also apparently been used from space, to start fires in places like Maui, Valparaiso, Chile, and Pacific Palisades/Malibu, California.
A few weeks ago I wondered if it was possible to actually form a beam on the order of a few inches in diameter from an orbiting satellite. (There are pictures on-line of a church in Maui apparently sliced in half by a beam of that approximate size.) As it turns out, this is the same problem as that of the resolution of a telescope, which is described by the Rayleigh criterion. Without boring you with the math (it is simple math, but hard to include in a text-only post), the answer is yes, a beam weapon 100 miles up with an aperture of a meter or so can focus a visible light beam to a few inches -- and thus could have been used to start those fires and cut that church in half. If it is possible, we should presume that it has been done.
Regarding DEW, there's a strong suspicion about some "deterrence test" made (by an angry neighbor ?) AGAINST a Turkish C130 in last November because some parts of the plane seemed to have been cut off while it was flying ! 😱😲
There are lots of things they -- both the good guys and the bad guys -- are not telling us about. Like the 'sonic disruptors' the US used in Venezuela to neutralize opposing troops without killing or injuring them. Only admitted when reports appeared in the international press about these secret weapons. And Trump implied 'there are many others...'
Re: "First, reports surfaced of the Trump administration crafting a voluntary compact with Big Tech titans—OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta—forcing them to bear 100% of the infrastructure costs..."
Please can someone explain me the exact meaning of "voluntary compact" in this context ?
I understand the whole meaning but not this specific point ... 🥴🇫🇷🥴
We have all suffered enough from our stolen 2020 election, being a convicted/pardoned J6er was the biggest eye opener for how TREASONOUS this great nations politicians have become! #Trumpwon2020
It is a bit misleading to think the large tech companies will cover the cost of electric grid energy infrastructure. That would cost them more than the value of their company at today's expense. It takes years to engineer, acquire land, source electrical transmission equipment, and finally build out the power line to expand the grid. I've worked in this industry for more than a few cycles understands that booms and busts come and go, but infrastructure decisions endure. Pipelines, LNG terminals, processing plants, combined-cycle turbines, refineries, nuclear plants, and transmission networks are multi-decade capital commitments. Once built, they shape the energy mix for 100 years. Economics drive energy transition, not environmental regulations. Coal plants can be made "clean" with advanced scrubbers to remove harmful gases, yet they still will generate HUGE amounts of post-combustion, toxic ash that accumulates in lake-sized ash ponds. This is why coal is going away.
Energy systems typically evolve through layering rather than abrupt substitution. One concept that captures this progression is N2N, Natural Gas to Nuclear, described by energy analyst Robert Bryce. Gas provides scalable, dispatchable power today. Over time, advanced nuclear technologies, particularly small modular reactors (SMRs), may assume a larger share of baseload generation.
The U.S. currently has substantial (I mean A LOT) natural gas reserves and an extensive pipeline network. Those assets underpin grid stability and industrial competitiveness. Debates about “reversing” energy trends often underestimate how embedded these systems are. Natural gas pipelines deliver this energy source discreetly underground to the point of use. This is what most data centers want: reliable, consistent natural gas delivered right to their plant. This they can afford, and are building. The Haynesville Shale in North Louisiana and the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania are HUGE deposits of natural gas, enough to provide data centers with the power they need.
If the trend holds, the current expansion of natural gas may ultimately serve as a bridge to a more nuclear-intensive grid. But that evolution, like every major energy transition before it, will unfold over decades, not election cycles.
Well staighted. But I would disagree on coal generations death being due to ash disposal. It can and has been used in many building materials as substrate for years.
Coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal, is widely repurposed as a sustainable, cost-effective, and functional material, primarily in construction and infrastructure. Key uses include replacing Portland cement in concrete, manufacturing wallboard (drywall), building road bases, structural fills for construction, and, in some cases,6 for soil stabilization and mine reclamation.
In Texas, coal plants were forced out of business by environment regulation e.g. Clean Air Act and the natural gas & environmental lobby basically pressuring the legislature, PUC and ERCOT to make Texas NG, T. Boone Pickens wind farms and envirocommunist solar boondoggles the favorable alternative to them. That's what lead to the infamous "snow-magedan" event. They forced the "clean" coal plants to shutdown leaving the state without fast reactive grid feed e.g. reserve capacity of an operating generational facility, they used to never run at max capacity.
Nuculear fusion micro-grid is the longterm solution and what Trump is envisioning the new robber barren crowd into paying to create. Note Truth Social recently investing big in the Tech.
Most industrial revolution electrical generation plants were built at the factory, not for the commoners use. Mainly due to Edison's D/C limitations, but also because industry was the first to recognize it's benefit. They later realized the commoner could/would purchase the surplus as new electrical devices became available. The grid or long range distribution didn't take off until Westinghouse proved Tesla's A/C was more practical.
Trump's playing on the same concept.
A compact is a "non regulatory, judicial or legislated" voluntary self governing agreement between parties to accomplish a common goal. The Mayflower Compact being the most famous among men.
Water is the bigger concern in Texas with the flood (pun intended) of data centers resulting in worsened drought effects, especially drawing down auquifers.
As a user of fly ash, I can confirm that the available supply has dropped considerably. Fresh Class F and Class C ash volumes are affected. Many markets rely on reclaimed ash from ponds and landfills. While some of that is acceptable, there is significant variability. I would not want any of that in my job. Coal ash has trace amounts of things like arsenic, selenium, mercury, and other nasty metals. Sure, concrete encapsulates this, and it is generally stable. It's the excess unburned carbon that is making it harder to obtain high-quality fly ash, depending on where in the US you operate.
As for water in Texas, the data center industry could embrace the use of produced water from the oil & gas industry. With the right pretreatment and chemical inhibition program, it may be sufficient to service X times as many data centers. New technology in dense-phase immersion cooling is working to reduce energy and water consumption.
Not debating fly ash trace toxicity, most significant arsenic, but that disposal was NOT the major issue in the killing of the industry.
Natural gas producers teamed with envirocommies to drive out coal and monopolize the industry as the "safe" alternative."
ExxonMobil has complex, often contentious, relationships with environmental groups, ranging from COLLABORATION ON SPECIFIC EMISSIONS REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY projects to active litigation and past funding of climate-skeptic organizations. While COLLABORATING WITH GROUPS LIKE the ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND.
The company is a member of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) and Ipieca, which focus on advancing environmental performance and reducing emissions.
HISTORICAL FUNDING: Historically, between 1998 and 2004, ExxonMobil funded organizations that questioned the severity of climate change.
WHY DID THEY STOP IN 2004....
Investor Pressure: ACTIVIST INVESTORS HAVE PRESSURED the COMPANY TO ADOPT more PROGRESSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL, social, and governance (ESG) STANDARDS, resulting in the formation of a LOW CARBON SOLUTIONS division.
WHAT OCCURRED AFTER 2004......
Between 2011 and 2019, over 100 U.S. coal-fired power plants were converted to or replaced by natural gas (NG) to reduce emissions, lower operating costs, and leverage increased domestic supply.
Top U.S. Corporate Natural Gas Producers (Volume & Market Power)
Expand Energy: As of late 2024/2025, this entity is the largest U.S. natural gas producer, formed through the merger of Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy.
ExxonMobil: A top-tier, global energy giant that ranks among the highest in U.S. natural gas production, often rivaling or exceeding others in volume, with a heavy presence in the Permian Basin and Gulf Coast.
Major investors in natural gas (NG) power plants are shifting toward backing infrastructure for data centers and AI, with Blackstone (investing over $25 billion), Energy Capital Partners (ECP), and Brookfield Asset Management leading the charge. Key players in 2026 also include Talen Energy, Partners Group, and major utilities like Vistra.
IT'S ALL CORPORATE INCEST......WE ACT LIKE IT'S ONE ENERGY SOURCE AGAINST ANOTHER.....IT'S NOT. IT'S US AGAINST THEM AND THEM HAS NO INTEREST IN WHAT'S BEST FOR US.
No it's rather simple......follow the money (power to control). Their love of control is the driving factor. They control the policy makers, therefore the policy or lack of policy, therefore the subjects of said policy or lack there of are but simple marks for the taking. You know, cattle for the milking.
Nothing done by government is ever for the people.....in a corporate system.
My take on this is to say that already several excellent posts in this thread address most of the issues. An interesting observation is that about 5 years after the August 14, 2003 blackout -- the largest ever in North America, affecting about 50 million people -- there appeared in one of the industry rags an article titled "Shocked into action!"
I found that title amusing, because it basically implied (and this is true) that the electric power industry is one of the slowest-moving, tradition-bound industries ever to exist. And that is true everywhere, not just North America. And it is true for a fundamental reason: the electric infrastructure is perhaps the most critical of all infrastructures for a modern economy. Without it, our standard of living would be impossible.
So therefore, the people running this sector of the economy are justifiably very conservative and slow to act. The risk of impudent decision making is too high; everything that is done is done slowly and after great deliberation.
August 14, 2003 is as fresh in the memory of power engineers and managers as the date September 11, 2001 is to the general public. It was a transformational event, and it did shock the industry into action -- action which nevertheless took years to implement.
The problem for the data centers is that this is being driven by the tech bros -- the guys who think an 18-month development cycle (from one generation of processor technology to the next) is too long. These guys have no idea of the reality of the power industry; they likely feel that they will make the change they want happen through the sheer power of their brilliance and determination. After all, it has worked for them in other areas, why not?
The problem ends up being one of complexity: making a faster chip simply means making the geometry smaller. That is no simple task, mind you; however it is one they've learned to master. Making a more powerful energy grid involves many disciplines, many of them (land planning, for example) that happen on a time scale of years or even decades, rather than months. Their powerful egos are running into the unmovable object of the power grid. They cannot simply will into place the changes they need.
So, they are headed on a collision course with reality. Maybe they can place generation capacity adjacent to their data centers, which actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. It is reversion to the early days of the power industry, when generators were sited adjacent to major load and the excess power sold to the nearby residential areas. Then they do not need to deal with the complexities of grid planning, transmission corridors, substations, right-of-way acquisition, system protection and all of the other complexities of the modern power grid. This could be any sort of generation that makes sense to them, within the realities of their needs for dispatchable power (i.e., power that can be turned on and off as needed, when load changes) vs. base load (constant users). Initially one might consider a data center as a constant load; however I suspect that the computational load on a data center is quite time dependent, basically when the users are awake and active, more computational power is required than when most are asleep. That almost makes it imperative that the data center's load be made responsive to user requirements -- the cost savings would demand it. But then, the generator would need to be 'dispatchable' i.e. able to be turned on and off, up or down, by the 'dispatcher' or scheduler. Nuclear power is much better suited to base (constant) load; gas turbines are much more dispatchable. So perhaps a combination would make the most sense -- just as it does in the grid at large.
Well, I've rambled on for a while -- as you can see, TRUMPist, this is a complex issue. It will not be resolved in the normal 18-month development cycle of the chip bros, no matter how much they or Trump want it to be. So we shall see -- the only conclusion I can offer is, this will not be an easy or smooth transition. But it will for sure result in improved grid responsiveness in the long term. Trump wants to minimize the effects on other power users; I'm not certain that this is possible without throttling the data centers. A storm brewing, basically.
I wonder if I shouldn't wait for ALtab's own summary of this whole thread before I can ingerate and fully understand it !! 🤔🤗
I didn't wait for ALtab but I needed and will need several more readings of this significant thread which seems to enlight many things most of us just begin to find out and understand!
Thank you very much to you ALL for bringing such important points at this time when everybody starts to understand that energy WILL be the cornerstone of the coming Golden Age !
Many here add valuable perspective, including yourself. Since I have been working in the power sector for ~40 years, I have experience and perspective that I can share, which others cannot be expected to know. Just as others here share their own experiences and perspective. The fact that there are so many different SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) here, with such a range of knowledge, is one of the things that makes this community so enjoyable! Thanks also to you, ALtab, and everyone else who adds perspective from their respective 'silos.'
Exactly why I recommend readers go to the comments. What we can’t achieve individually, we can together using our various perspectives, experiences and talents. You are so appreciated, Wild Bill! I’ve learned so much from your expertise! Thank you!
I am no expert on what you stated, but I had a thought while reading. You mentioned gas reserves, N2N. Decades ago, in prerevolution Iran, I lived in the south of Iran for about a year. There were massive gas flares spread out across the landscape in that region that lit up the night sky for miles. No doubt by now, nearly 50 years later, these have been redirected to pipelines, and to a burgeoning nuclear program. It would make since to me in light of what you stated, that Iran is a country with too much potential to not be corralled and controlled. Everyone seems to fear Iran's nuclear potential, yet Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons and no one seems to care. Am I even in the ballpark as it relates to your comment above? Thank you.
Nuclear power is a long-term energy technology, characterized by high energy density and continuous output, and decisions about fuel cycles and reactor build-out take decades to come into view. Civilian reactors around the world today most commonly use low-enriched uranium in light-water or heavy-water designs because that technology base is mature and supported by global supply chains. Other fuel options, such as thorium-based cycles or advanced fast reactors, offer potential advantages in resource use and waste management, but they require new engineering and regulatory frameworks that are not yet commercially widespread.
When calibrated against the civilian energy needs of different nations, nuclear programs reflect very different strategic choices and constraints. India has pursued nuclear energy as part of a broader infrastructure strategy and has developed indigenous reactor technology and fuel cycles, in part to circumvent historical limitations on imported technology and to leverage its domestic thorium reserves. India is now planning a substantial expansion in capacity to support economic growth and energy security, and it is opening its nuclear sector to private and foreign participation to accelerate deployment. 
Pakistan’s civilian nuclear energy development is constrained by its exclusion from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and related supplier regimes, which limit access to certain technologies and materials and tightly link civilian programs to partnerships with China and other suppliers. 
Iran’s nuclear program, by contrast, exists in a geopolitical context where enrichment capacity and stockpiles are viewed with deep suspicion because the same enrichment technologies can serve weapons programs, and Iran has enriched uranium well beyond levels needed for ordinary power generation.  These differing geopolitical and strategic contexts lead each country to emphasize nuclear power for very different mixes of energy security, industrial development, and national security considerations.
Just started watching the Pam Bondi hearing in Congress - thanks for the link - and in the very beginning, they all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance…except the media people, too busy getting themselves set up with their equipment to pause for a minute to say the Pledge of Allegiance?!
I don’t really have the time to listen to all of it and got thoroughly disgusted when Washington state Representative, Jayapal, tried to seriously ruffle Bondi’s feathers by demanding Bondi turn and face the Epstein victims and apologize that their names were not redacted!
After a heated exchange. Bondi replied “ I’m Not Going to Get in the Gutter With This Woman!”
A perfect case of how the progressive democrat left USES people and situations as a narrative weapon! Here was Jayapal using the victims to try to shame the DOJ for not redacting their names…all while Jayapal was putting those victims in a glaring spotlight.
Once you see the tactic, it is so obvious ever time they use it!
Ghost + BB, any actuals re: Cuba Collapse into Golden Age (other than reports of Russian evacuation)? Is Ghost's comment about Mexico as 'last bastion of Hispanic Narcotic Cartel' implying Cuba is under White Hat control? Would u agree that El Paso FF looks like narrative teaser for some serious BigBro-LilBro WWE Whoop-Ass Saturday-Nights-Alright-4-Fighting?
I enjoyed reading this article and I'm happy to share it with all the women who are among us on a regular basis: it sounds like a warmful tribute to the MAGA / America First women we all know and appreciate !
I just hope you won't be blocked by some paywall 🙄😱 I don't have from France...
Welcome to the latest installment of Washington Secrets, your user guide to the capital’s politics. Today, we have the juice on who will stand in for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt when she goes on maternity leave.
President Donald Trump will lose his “machine gun lips” in May when Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, goes on maternity leave, vacating the lectern while she has her second baby.
Senate Republicans find their secret weapon as they try to navigate midterm 'headwinds' with Palm Beach getaway.
The result is rampant speculation about who might replace one of Trump’s most effective officials.
Tricia McLaughlin, the glamorous and punchy spokeswoman at the Department of Homeland Security, has frequently been cited by administration officials as the best equipped to stand in. Her Fox News appearances have won rave reviews, and she has, after all, been well and truly tested in recent weeks amid a series of crises.
But Secrets can reveal that Leavitt will not have a stand-in. Instead, her role will be covered by a rolling cast of big hitters.
“Marco [Rubio] will get up,” she told Secrets in the comfort of her White House office, where a log fire burned against the winter cold. “So too will the Vice President. There will be special guests.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance are two of the biggest names in an administration built of cabinet secretaries picked in part for their prowess on television. Any appearances they make will trigger comparisons and more intrigue about which will emerge as the strongest contender for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination.
Secrets will leave headlines about 2028 auditions to others. But that it will take such important figures to fill in is a reminder of how the youngest press secretary in history — Leavitt is still only 28 — has been one of the breakout stars of the Trump administration.
“She is so impressive,” cooed one first-time visitor to the Briefing Room on Tuesday. “And you could see her face toughen when she got a question she didn’t like.”
Minutes earlier, Leavitt had ended the briefing by rolling through a list of the administration’s achievements after being asked one time too many about ties between Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Jeffrey Epstein.
Her take-no-prisoners approach made her an indispensable figure during the last months of the election campaign.
She famously managed only four days of maternity leave when she had her first baby, named Niko, in July 2024, hurrying back on to the airwaves after the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Lara Trump, the President’s daughter-in-law, shut down any suggestions that Leavitt could be replaced during a recent interview, citing how she handled her first pregnancy.
“Karoline Leavitt is a machine. She’s incredible. And she’s going nowhere,” Lara, Eric Trump’s wife, told Fox News. “We’re all going to be watching as Karoline Leavitt absolutely schools the fake news media while she’s probably eight and nine months pregnant.”
She also played down any idea that there would be a permanent replacement.
“I’ve seen some stories out there … who’s next in line? Nobody’s next in line. It’s Karoline,” Leavitt said.
Other names in the mix were NewsNation host Katie Pavlich, former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, Fox News host Laura Ingraham, and Monica Crowley, Trump’s protocol chief and former Fox News contributor.
Thank you for asking. I receive an email each morning and click on a picture (using my small screen MacBook Air) to read the article in a Brave browser (easier for my old eyes to read the Substack version.) . I have learned to check the date of the Brief after clicking. If it's the wrong date, I go down to another picture in today's email and click. that is my work around. I will survive.
Why won't these "survivors" name names. Their identities are out there so no protection for that. Elon has guaranteed the finances if they are sued...so why won't they say??
They are not "fossil" fuels. The poll is another batch of BS. Dems are responsible for high energy costs and unbearable restrictions and requirements. Nuclear power seems more the President's focus to me.
Thank you Badlands Brief team!
***Warning: following comment is not directed at any article, author, or commenter - I appreciate the opportunity to provide it nonetheless***
PS - I have been finding myself pondering on our (humanity at large) propensity to surrender our true freedoms for the promise, the fabled hope, the enticing doctrines of safety, security, and self-realization which are being offered by those who have neither the capability or even the conscious desire to actually deliver. While at the very same moment (as Paul noted in his introduction to the letter he wrote to those in Rome) willfully ignoring the one and only Person who has not only promised but (by His very act of creating us in His Image and Likeness and giving us the ability and freedom to decide for ourselves) proven that He can actually deliver what we desire by trusting Him.
Those "ponderings" have encouraged me to follow the example given by Daniel and Jeremiah and, yes, even Jesus Himself: to intercede for us all that we might have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that understand!
Excellent!! HGV, I think the fact of Satan’s insidious methods is directly involved in what we’ve observed, given what God’s word tells us about his (and our) nature.
Hello HGV !
🇫🇷🕊️🫂💕🇺🇲
I take advantage of your comment to ask your opinion and Christian view on this question if you can help (thanks to Featherjourney 🪶 and ALtab for their own useful answers! 🙏🏻🙏🏻):
https://badlands.substack.com/p/badlands-brief-eea/comment/212788458
Looks like you missed my last reply (re Forbidden news) in that thread
And I couldn’t find ALtab’s reply?
Hi Feather 🪶 🕊️ 🪶!
No, don't worry, I did read your answer (and maybe replied to it) !
I just ask to have different takes to enrich my / OUR understanding 🕊️🤗
Here's ALtab’s answer, as I asked her through a former reply:
https://badlands.substack.com/p/badlands-brief-314/comment/213412112
Thank you! ALtab’s reply was very interesting (as we knew it would be 😉)
That's precisely why I asked HGV too, because he can be interested by your answers and maybe bring more information or another point of view…
You may find my reply less provocative than might be imagined.
I began my career in banking - which matters here because it is where I learned that the best way to identify counterfeit currency was to only handle real bills. We never touched anything else.
We also learned that (back in those days) it was important to stack all your money facing the same way and never count the denomination on the corner of the bills but the faces on them (folks would tape the number of a larger denominated bill on the corners of smaller bills in the hopes of having a five dollar bill counted as a twenty - for example).
These two lessons have carried over to how I approach the Bible. Which means I spend only a small amount of time looking into philosophies or doctrines outside of the Bible (i.e., I don't research the Book of Enoch - though I have read it) and I take it literally that EVERYTHING that is, was, or ever will be WAS created by Almighty God. Also, there is a reason that God allowed the adversary into the garden (a topic I have written about a lot!) but that it being allowed did not mean the He endorsed its methods - as Jesus said, the adversary is a liar and (in essence) if it is speaking it is lying!
My experience tells me that many of the speculative doctrines that attempt to tie-in to the Biblical accounts are encouraged by a misunderstanding of the core principles of the Word of God. (Any expertise takes time and dedication - that is true of the science and art of hermeneutics too!) For example when Jesus warned His followers that the day would come when many would declare to be their Messiah - and so lead many away from the truth - I believe He was specifically speaking of the kind of mixture that Paul, Peter and John dealt with: people trying to present Jesus as a phantom or spirit instead of accepting His own testimony that He was a sinless man. Or those who took (take) the other perspective that He was just a man - and (usually added) that He never claimed to be the Only Begotten Son of Almighty God (which mean that He is God - the only Pre-existent being)!
Both of those off-shoots are resolved by a patient review of all that we have been given in His Word and with help of the enlightenment that God (in the person of the Holy Spirit, Who was sent to lead us into all Truth) provides.
I am afraid a more thorough answer would require reviewing many of the posts that can be found here on substack. Which I understand is a bit challenging even for folks whose first language is English 😊.
PS - ALtab has gone through many of my posts - she may be able to help clarify or even recommend specific ones that might clarify.
AT the least - here is a post that draws from my upcoming book and which provides details from the Biblical story of creation. https://hisgloriousvictory.substack.com/p/gods-commitment-part-one?r=q0fod
God Bless!
In what could be the biggest move of the year to date Trump 2.0 repealed the Obummer-Era EPA Climate Ruling. World Changing! This neuters all the DS Rat Bastard Dimorat energy crying. Their WSJ opinion is simply laughable.
I cannot wait for the 2020 voter fraud confirmation to drop… what fun😊
Also, I cannot wait to see Trump drop the hammer on Mexico drug cartels… Glorious!
God Wins!
God Bless!!!
Nailed it, Joe! TAW!
BB: “This is the Hegelian Nightmare in its purest form: existential threats woven into the fabric of the Story”
The Democrat playbook, forming a narrative of Oligarchy vs Democracy, framing the billionaire class in scandal (via Epstein files). Trump was right! This is a democrat HOAX, used for distraction against the factories being built, jobs created, the economy freed from the environmental regulations…
All of which makes me realize we are living in a version of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged! The version of our times is, as BB has been pointing out for years, a narrative war between Truth and lies.
The precipice Q referred to is the ultimate battle between the ability (through common sense and reason) to discern Truth through the fog of democrat-fabricated illusions.
As Barbara Boyd put it: ‘the democrat narrative is their midterm weapon’
And in my personal opinion, many of the people failing this test the hardest are those who consider themselves Q disciples.
I have to agree with you on this. It’s been an odd development.👀
Problem is, IMO, that these folks thought they knew how it would all play out. Or maybe, how they wanted it to play out. Basically, they were 'thinking' too much as in, can't see the forest for the trees.
Remember Mark Twain told us "It is easier to fool someone, than to convince them they've been fooled." A similar dynamic is at play here. The more sure you are that you know something (even if you don't), the harder it is to realize and admit that you were wrong. Corollary to Twain: "It is easier to fool yourself, than to admit you were wrong."
We are a complex creation, aren’t we? It’s amazing how easily we ALL can be fooled!
Jordan Sather addressed this in a substack yesterday. How the the waters were muddied by people like Alex Jones, Jerome Corsi - intentionally!!
Yes-interesting article!
Well put Feather! ♥️🕊👏🌟
Thank you, Anna ❤️🇺🇸🕊
The envy of success and creativity makes for very jealous mean heartless folk posing as the opposite.
Beautifully stated, Feather!!👏👏
Thank you, Spirit Sister ❤️
On another note…
Trying to find the thread (might have been from yesterday) on energy.
Anyone who’s ever watched Steven Greer’s documentaries is wondering about the zero point energy field.
From his website:
“ For over 100 years, advances in electromagnetic systems have allowed for the creation of over-unity (more out-put than manmade input) power generation via the zero point energy (ZPE) field and quantum vacuum. These have been suppressed by way of a number of means both legal and illegal. To date, no inventor, corporation, research team or university has been able to surmount these obstacles.”
Edit: https://drstevengreer.com/energy1-3/
Makes one wonder if this is something happening behind the scenes, but highly classified? Did someone overcome the obstacles? When Trump keeps mentioning the corporations will have to generate their own energy without impacting current energy prices for us, I have to seriously think there has been some major breakthrough kept hidden until the perfect moment. If everyone here is correct, we won’t have the ability to generate this quantity of energy short term as goal, oil, natural gas apparently aren’t sufficient and nuclear takes a lot of time to get it to production. Lots of questions, few (if any) answers!
Have a wonderful day, Spirit Sister!🕊️❤️🙏🇺🇸
Trump talks a little about how frustrating it is that we’ve not had and major inventions in the energy or space sectors in so many years!
Yes, he has…so, I wonder if he’s pointing to a new revelation he knows is coming? Maybe just waiting until the cabal is too weak to use it against us? The Art of War comes to mind.
That’s what I’m thinking as well…
I am loving Sergey Lavrov and trying to picture how he and “The Donald” might have been crossing paths in their respective roles in NYC circa 87-88. ❤️
Hello Kelly !
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Maybe this could help (Wikip...):
"Lavrov began his diplomatic career in Sri Lanka and speaks fluent Sinhala, Dhivehi, English, and French, in addition to his native Russian. From 1981 to 1988 he held several posts in the Soviet Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City. Starting in the late 1980s he was deputy director and then director of the Foreign Ministry's Department of International Organizations"
They must have many opportunities to meet for any reason... 😉🤗
Exactly! 😘
Brilliant man! Amazingly gifted for his role(s)!
Sergey Lavrov, Kirill Dmitriev, and Vladimir Putin make a great team. It is better to be on the same side with them, than opposed.
Great post, sometimes less is more. Especially on Netanyahu/Trump. Trump escaping globalism is leaving many on an island alone with their NGO masters.
And that island is sinking into the sea, as global temperatures rise... or at least, so [they] believe.
Or do they really? I believe [they] know that all of their propaganda is BS, used to keep us from achieving the future that God (and now Trump) want for us. It is there for us to claim, but first we must free ourselves from the grip of [their] propaganda.
—-BB’s captured the true purpose of our would-be enslavers…through the corrupt part of our government here via the fake news, ‘This is the Hegelian Nightmare in its purest form: existential threats woven into the fabric of the Story, where progress itself is painted as planetary suicide, where abundance is recast as greed and where the very technologies that once promised a retro-futurist Golden Age are demonized as inverted world-enders.’ They sure don’t want we serfs to have prosperity.
—-Ashe notes the structure Trump is managing for these companies and posits this good observation for our consideration, ‘Remember the way solar fields shaped our reality? The President seems to be getting ahead of AI’s threat to do the same.’
—-Given all we’ve learned from Ghost on the Middle East, I agree with his assessment here, ‘He flew all that way and walked away with nothing. But honestly, in this situation, no news is good news.’👀. We continue watching.
—-Ashe, read your assessment re the election, then got to the part of Kurt Olsen’s background and my eyes popped, ‘Before all that, he was a Navy Seal.’ He appears to be integral to the ‘we have it all’ narrative.
—There are several areas that Ghost covers, and his assessments shine! Africa is one and bears close watching….for many, many reasons.👀
—-Mexico isn’t our friend. Either way, it’s an invasion and the article Ghost found leads us back to Prussia (disguised as Israel)?
Has the EMP technology advanced to be able to employ a laser-type focus? Is that how they took out the drones? For the plans Mexico has, including its other widespread invasions, Peter Schweizer’s new book, ‘The Invisible Coup’ is a must read. Plus, it’s NOT full of so-called anonymous sources.
—-Pam Bondi rocks!
—-MKULTRA has been underground for decades now….obviously still capable of its evil.
—-Thank you to all the truth seekers here!
We just weren't taking 'total inversion' literally enough.
Prosperity: no, [they] most certainly do not want us to have it. They are sort of like Gollum slinking around looking for 'my precious.' Slimy and gross, but undeterred in their determination to have it all.
Mexico: Remember that the people of Mexico are indeed our friends, as are the people of most nations. It is the government that is the problem. As it is in Iran and most everywhere else -- even (perhaps especially) with our 'special friend' the UK.
EMP: This is the effect caused by a nuclear weapon detonating above the ionosphere. More likely that they used a DEW -- Directed Energy Weapon. And yes, those have been developed to the point that they can shoot down aircraft and missiles, so drones would be easy targets. They have also apparently been used from space, to start fires in places like Maui, Valparaiso, Chile, and Pacific Palisades/Malibu, California.
A few weeks ago I wondered if it was possible to actually form a beam on the order of a few inches in diameter from an orbiting satellite. (There are pictures on-line of a church in Maui apparently sliced in half by a beam of that approximate size.) As it turns out, this is the same problem as that of the resolution of a telescope, which is described by the Rayleigh criterion. Without boring you with the math (it is simple math, but hard to include in a text-only post), the answer is yes, a beam weapon 100 miles up with an aperture of a meter or so can focus a visible light beam to a few inches -- and thus could have been used to start those fires and cut that church in half. If it is possible, we should presume that it has been done.
Hi Wild Bill!
I concur 💯
Regarding DEW, there's a strong suspicion about some "deterrence test" made (by an angry neighbor ?) AGAINST a Turkish C130 in last November because some parts of the plane seemed to have been cut off while it was flying ! 😱😲
https://www.twz.com/air/detached-wings-from-doomed-turkish-c-130-seen-spiraling-into-the-ground
Certainly possible, TRUMPist. Cutting parts off of an airplane is a pretty good way to make it crash...
I remember I have read something about some sort of “dislocation ?” or disruptive frequencies which could remotely “cut” and sever many materials …
There are lots of things they -- both the good guys and the bad guys -- are not telling us about. Like the 'sonic disruptors' the US used in Venezuela to neutralize opposing troops without killing or injuring them. Only admitted when reports appeared in the international press about these secret weapons. And Trump implied 'there are many others...'
Hi Wild Bill!
There's an update by Noah:
https://badlands.substack.com/p/badlands-brief-eea/comment/215009437
So - the students in the movie Real Genius actually did something factually correct. 🤣🤣. Hollywood pre-seeding the actual again.
Thank you, ALtab! Wonderful comment with your flair of insight!
You are the best at addressing the whole stack!! 🙏❤️🇺🇸
🐯 Burning Bright 🐯
@burningbright
Re: "First, reports surfaced of the Trump administration crafting a voluntary compact with Big Tech titans—OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta—forcing them to bear 100% of the infrastructure costs..."
Please can someone explain me the exact meaning of "voluntary compact" in this context ?
I understand the whole meaning but not this specific point ... 🥴🇫🇷🥴
He isn't technically, openly forcing their hand. But they have a pact that has been codified in the public-facing narrative.
Definition:
A compact is a signed written agreement that binds you to do what you've promised.
Thank you to both of you, Anna and Feather, for your additional and comprehensive answers! 👍🏻🙏🏻
This isn't a term I use so I asked Brave search:
What is the purpose of a compact?
A compact serves to formalize the relationship between a self-governance Tribe and the federal government, outlining rights and responsibilities.
There were other definitions but this one seemed the best fit.
Thank you to both of you, Anna and Feather, for your additional and comprehensive answers! 👍🏻🙏🏻
Ghost: "Tough look for Netanyahu."
Or tough luck, as the saying goes.
We have all suffered enough from our stolen 2020 election, being a convicted/pardoned J6er was the biggest eye opener for how TREASONOUS this great nations politicians have become! #Trumpwon2020
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It is a bit misleading to think the large tech companies will cover the cost of electric grid energy infrastructure. That would cost them more than the value of their company at today's expense. It takes years to engineer, acquire land, source electrical transmission equipment, and finally build out the power line to expand the grid. I've worked in this industry for more than a few cycles understands that booms and busts come and go, but infrastructure decisions endure. Pipelines, LNG terminals, processing plants, combined-cycle turbines, refineries, nuclear plants, and transmission networks are multi-decade capital commitments. Once built, they shape the energy mix for 100 years. Economics drive energy transition, not environmental regulations. Coal plants can be made "clean" with advanced scrubbers to remove harmful gases, yet they still will generate HUGE amounts of post-combustion, toxic ash that accumulates in lake-sized ash ponds. This is why coal is going away.
Energy systems typically evolve through layering rather than abrupt substitution. One concept that captures this progression is N2N, Natural Gas to Nuclear, described by energy analyst Robert Bryce. Gas provides scalable, dispatchable power today. Over time, advanced nuclear technologies, particularly small modular reactors (SMRs), may assume a larger share of baseload generation.
The U.S. currently has substantial (I mean A LOT) natural gas reserves and an extensive pipeline network. Those assets underpin grid stability and industrial competitiveness. Debates about “reversing” energy trends often underestimate how embedded these systems are. Natural gas pipelines deliver this energy source discreetly underground to the point of use. This is what most data centers want: reliable, consistent natural gas delivered right to their plant. This they can afford, and are building. The Haynesville Shale in North Louisiana and the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania are HUGE deposits of natural gas, enough to provide data centers with the power they need.
If the trend holds, the current expansion of natural gas may ultimately serve as a bridge to a more nuclear-intensive grid. But that evolution, like every major energy transition before it, will unfold over decades, not election cycles.
Trump has been very consistent in terms of understanding it's a transition or 'bridge' era we're entering.
The irony is that, to your points, fossil fuel tech is going to boom right alongside the transitory tech.
Well staighted. But I would disagree on coal generations death being due to ash disposal. It can and has been used in many building materials as substrate for years.
Coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal, is widely repurposed as a sustainable, cost-effective, and functional material, primarily in construction and infrastructure. Key uses include replacing Portland cement in concrete, manufacturing wallboard (drywall), building road bases, structural fills for construction, and, in some cases,6 for soil stabilization and mine reclamation.
In Texas, coal plants were forced out of business by environment regulation e.g. Clean Air Act and the natural gas & environmental lobby basically pressuring the legislature, PUC and ERCOT to make Texas NG, T. Boone Pickens wind farms and envirocommunist solar boondoggles the favorable alternative to them. That's what lead to the infamous "snow-magedan" event. They forced the "clean" coal plants to shutdown leaving the state without fast reactive grid feed e.g. reserve capacity of an operating generational facility, they used to never run at max capacity.
Nuculear fusion micro-grid is the longterm solution and what Trump is envisioning the new robber barren crowd into paying to create. Note Truth Social recently investing big in the Tech.
Most industrial revolution electrical generation plants were built at the factory, not for the commoners use. Mainly due to Edison's D/C limitations, but also because industry was the first to recognize it's benefit. They later realized the commoner could/would purchase the surplus as new electrical devices became available. The grid or long range distribution didn't take off until Westinghouse proved Tesla's A/C was more practical.
Trump's playing on the same concept.
A compact is a "non regulatory, judicial or legislated" voluntary self governing agreement between parties to accomplish a common goal. The Mayflower Compact being the most famous among men.
Water is the bigger concern in Texas with the flood (pun intended) of data centers resulting in worsened drought effects, especially drawing down auquifers.
As a user of fly ash, I can confirm that the available supply has dropped considerably. Fresh Class F and Class C ash volumes are affected. Many markets rely on reclaimed ash from ponds and landfills. While some of that is acceptable, there is significant variability. I would not want any of that in my job. Coal ash has trace amounts of things like arsenic, selenium, mercury, and other nasty metals. Sure, concrete encapsulates this, and it is generally stable. It's the excess unburned carbon that is making it harder to obtain high-quality fly ash, depending on where in the US you operate.
As for water in Texas, the data center industry could embrace the use of produced water from the oil & gas industry. With the right pretreatment and chemical inhibition program, it may be sufficient to service X times as many data centers. New technology in dense-phase immersion cooling is working to reduce energy and water consumption.
Not debating fly ash trace toxicity, most significant arsenic, but that disposal was NOT the major issue in the killing of the industry.
Natural gas producers teamed with envirocommies to drive out coal and monopolize the industry as the "safe" alternative."
ExxonMobil has complex, often contentious, relationships with environmental groups, ranging from COLLABORATION ON SPECIFIC EMISSIONS REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY projects to active litigation and past funding of climate-skeptic organizations. While COLLABORATING WITH GROUPS LIKE the ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND.
The company is a member of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) and Ipieca, which focus on advancing environmental performance and reducing emissions.
HISTORICAL FUNDING: Historically, between 1998 and 2004, ExxonMobil funded organizations that questioned the severity of climate change.
WHY DID THEY STOP IN 2004....
Investor Pressure: ACTIVIST INVESTORS HAVE PRESSURED the COMPANY TO ADOPT more PROGRESSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL, social, and governance (ESG) STANDARDS, resulting in the formation of a LOW CARBON SOLUTIONS division.
WHAT OCCURRED AFTER 2004......
Between 2011 and 2019, over 100 U.S. coal-fired power plants were converted to or replaced by natural gas (NG) to reduce emissions, lower operating costs, and leverage increased domestic supply.
Top U.S. Corporate Natural Gas Producers (Volume & Market Power)
Expand Energy: As of late 2024/2025, this entity is the largest U.S. natural gas producer, formed through the merger of Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy.
ExxonMobil: A top-tier, global energy giant that ranks among the highest in U.S. natural gas production, often rivaling or exceeding others in volume, with a heavy presence in the Permian Basin and Gulf Coast.
ExxonMobil Planning Large Gas-Fired Plant to Serve Data Centers https://share.google/nUc7SlwlixX9sq094
Major investors in natural gas (NG) power plants are shifting toward backing infrastructure for data centers and AI, with Blackstone (investing over $25 billion), Energy Capital Partners (ECP), and Brookfield Asset Management leading the charge. Key players in 2026 also include Talen Energy, Partners Group, and major utilities like Vistra.
IT'S ALL CORPORATE INCEST......WE ACT LIKE IT'S ONE ENERGY SOURCE AGAINST ANOTHER.....IT'S NOT. IT'S US AGAINST THEM AND THEM HAS NO INTEREST IN WHAT'S BEST FOR US.
What is your opinion of the technology Tesla found, but was suppressed? (Thank you for the excellent explanation here)!
Ah! This is the thread I was looking for - left you a comment further along on the zero point energy field - technology long surpressed.
Hi ALtab !
I was on the verge of asking the same question after reading this very technical but well-articulated explanation !
Thank you so much ! 👍🏻🙏🏻
And Wild Bill could enrich the matter very soon...
No it's rather simple......follow the money (power to control). Their love of control is the driving factor. They control the policy makers, therefore the policy or lack of policy, therefore the subjects of said policy or lack there of are but simple marks for the taking. You know, cattle for the milking.
Nothing done by government is ever for the people.....in a corporate system.
My take on this is to say that already several excellent posts in this thread address most of the issues. An interesting observation is that about 5 years after the August 14, 2003 blackout -- the largest ever in North America, affecting about 50 million people -- there appeared in one of the industry rags an article titled "Shocked into action!"
I found that title amusing, because it basically implied (and this is true) that the electric power industry is one of the slowest-moving, tradition-bound industries ever to exist. And that is true everywhere, not just North America. And it is true for a fundamental reason: the electric infrastructure is perhaps the most critical of all infrastructures for a modern economy. Without it, our standard of living would be impossible.
So therefore, the people running this sector of the economy are justifiably very conservative and slow to act. The risk of impudent decision making is too high; everything that is done is done slowly and after great deliberation.
August 14, 2003 is as fresh in the memory of power engineers and managers as the date September 11, 2001 is to the general public. It was a transformational event, and it did shock the industry into action -- action which nevertheless took years to implement.
The problem for the data centers is that this is being driven by the tech bros -- the guys who think an 18-month development cycle (from one generation of processor technology to the next) is too long. These guys have no idea of the reality of the power industry; they likely feel that they will make the change they want happen through the sheer power of their brilliance and determination. After all, it has worked for them in other areas, why not?
The problem ends up being one of complexity: making a faster chip simply means making the geometry smaller. That is no simple task, mind you; however it is one they've learned to master. Making a more powerful energy grid involves many disciplines, many of them (land planning, for example) that happen on a time scale of years or even decades, rather than months. Their powerful egos are running into the unmovable object of the power grid. They cannot simply will into place the changes they need.
So, they are headed on a collision course with reality. Maybe they can place generation capacity adjacent to their data centers, which actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. It is reversion to the early days of the power industry, when generators were sited adjacent to major load and the excess power sold to the nearby residential areas. Then they do not need to deal with the complexities of grid planning, transmission corridors, substations, right-of-way acquisition, system protection and all of the other complexities of the modern power grid. This could be any sort of generation that makes sense to them, within the realities of their needs for dispatchable power (i.e., power that can be turned on and off as needed, when load changes) vs. base load (constant users). Initially one might consider a data center as a constant load; however I suspect that the computational load on a data center is quite time dependent, basically when the users are awake and active, more computational power is required than when most are asleep. That almost makes it imperative that the data center's load be made responsive to user requirements -- the cost savings would demand it. But then, the generator would need to be 'dispatchable' i.e. able to be turned on and off, up or down, by the 'dispatcher' or scheduler. Nuclear power is much better suited to base (constant) load; gas turbines are much more dispatchable. So perhaps a combination would make the most sense -- just as it does in the grid at large.
Well, I've rambled on for a while -- as you can see, TRUMPist, this is a complex issue. It will not be resolved in the normal 18-month development cycle of the chip bros, no matter how much they or Trump want it to be. So we shall see -- the only conclusion I can offer is, this will not be an easy or smooth transition. But it will for sure result in improved grid responsiveness in the long term. Trump wants to minimize the effects on other power users; I'm not certain that this is possible without throttling the data centers. A storm brewing, basically.
I wonder if I shouldn't wait for ALtab's own summary of this whole thread before I can ingerate and fully understand it !! 🤔🤗
I didn't wait for ALtab but I needed and will need several more readings of this significant thread which seems to enlight many things most of us just begin to find out and understand!
Thank you very much to you ALL for bringing such important points at this time when everybody starts to understand that energy WILL be the cornerstone of the coming Golden Age !
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Thank you, Wild Bill for adding so many applicable features to what the end goals are! You’re such a blessing to us!!
Many here add valuable perspective, including yourself. Since I have been working in the power sector for ~40 years, I have experience and perspective that I can share, which others cannot be expected to know. Just as others here share their own experiences and perspective. The fact that there are so many different SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) here, with such a range of knowledge, is one of the things that makes this community so enjoyable! Thanks also to you, ALtab, and everyone else who adds perspective from their respective 'silos.'
Exactly why I recommend readers go to the comments. What we can’t achieve individually, we can together using our various perspectives, experiences and talents. You are so appreciated, Wild Bill! I’ve learned so much from your expertise! Thank you!
I am no expert on what you stated, but I had a thought while reading. You mentioned gas reserves, N2N. Decades ago, in prerevolution Iran, I lived in the south of Iran for about a year. There were massive gas flares spread out across the landscape in that region that lit up the night sky for miles. No doubt by now, nearly 50 years later, these have been redirected to pipelines, and to a burgeoning nuclear program. It would make since to me in light of what you stated, that Iran is a country with too much potential to not be corralled and controlled. Everyone seems to fear Iran's nuclear potential, yet Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons and no one seems to care. Am I even in the ballpark as it relates to your comment above? Thank you.
Very good question.
Nuclear power is a long-term energy technology, characterized by high energy density and continuous output, and decisions about fuel cycles and reactor build-out take decades to come into view. Civilian reactors around the world today most commonly use low-enriched uranium in light-water or heavy-water designs because that technology base is mature and supported by global supply chains. Other fuel options, such as thorium-based cycles or advanced fast reactors, offer potential advantages in resource use and waste management, but they require new engineering and regulatory frameworks that are not yet commercially widespread.
When calibrated against the civilian energy needs of different nations, nuclear programs reflect very different strategic choices and constraints. India has pursued nuclear energy as part of a broader infrastructure strategy and has developed indigenous reactor technology and fuel cycles, in part to circumvent historical limitations on imported technology and to leverage its domestic thorium reserves. India is now planning a substantial expansion in capacity to support economic growth and energy security, and it is opening its nuclear sector to private and foreign participation to accelerate deployment. 
Pakistan’s civilian nuclear energy development is constrained by its exclusion from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and related supplier regimes, which limit access to certain technologies and materials and tightly link civilian programs to partnerships with China and other suppliers. 
Iran’s nuclear program, by contrast, exists in a geopolitical context where enrichment capacity and stockpiles are viewed with deep suspicion because the same enrichment technologies can serve weapons programs, and Iran has enriched uranium well beyond levels needed for ordinary power generation.  These differing geopolitical and strategic contexts lead each country to emphasize nuclear power for very different mixes of energy security, industrial development, and national security considerations.
Thank you so much!
Just started watching the Pam Bondi hearing in Congress - thanks for the link - and in the very beginning, they all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance…except the media people, too busy getting themselves set up with their equipment to pause for a minute to say the Pledge of Allegiance?!
Hi Feather, speculating here. But perhaps they can't bring themselves to say, "one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all."
They are the mouthpieces for JUST US, not justice.
♥️🙏🕊🌟
Good point!
I don’t really have the time to listen to all of it and got thoroughly disgusted when Washington state Representative, Jayapal, tried to seriously ruffle Bondi’s feathers by demanding Bondi turn and face the Epstein victims and apologize that their names were not redacted!
After a heated exchange. Bondi replied “ I’m Not Going to Get in the Gutter With This Woman!”
A perfect case of how the progressive democrat left USES people and situations as a narrative weapon! Here was Jayapal using the victims to try to shame the DOJ for not redacting their names…all while Jayapal was putting those victims in a glaring spotlight.
Once you see the tactic, it is so obvious ever time they use it!
I cannot stand to watch any of this. Totally turned off after the Kavanaugh’s hearings, and the impeachment proceedings..😡
I would have been just as angry if I had watched that! The TV might not have survived. These people are hypocrites!
Ghost + BB, any actuals re: Cuba Collapse into Golden Age (other than reports of Russian evacuation)? Is Ghost's comment about Mexico as 'last bastion of Hispanic Narcotic Cartel' implying Cuba is under White Hat control? Would u agree that El Paso FF looks like narrative teaser for some serious BigBro-LilBro WWE Whoop-Ass Saturday-Nights-Alright-4-Fighting?
🇺🇲♀️👮🏻♂️💃🏻👷🏻♂️👨🏻🎓👨🏻🍳👨🏻🔧👨🏻🚀👨🏻🚒👨🏻🌾💕🇺🇲
I enjoyed reading this article and I'm happy to share it with all the women who are among us on a regular basis: it sounds like a warmful tribute to the MAGA / America First women we all know and appreciate !
I just hope you won't be blocked by some paywall 🙄😱 I don't have from France...
"Karoline Leavitt’s maternity cover is revealed"
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/4455758/karoline-leavitt-maternity-leave-replacement
Thank you Trumpist! It is behind a paywall for me.
Hello Anna!
🇫🇷🕊️💕🇺🇲
Thank you for the information 🥺
I will try to copy/paste it in the comments, with source and copyright tonight or tomorrow if Badlands Team is OK…
If you can do that, it would be greatly appreciated! Blessings to you dear Trumpist! ♥️🙏🌟🕊🇫🇷🇺🇲
https://badlands.substack.com/p/badlands-brief-405/comment/214040669
Me too
Here it's Feather 🪶 🕊️ 🪶
https://badlands.substack.com/p/badlands-brief-405/comment/214040669
The text:
Karoline Leavitt’s maternity cover is revealed
[By Rob Crilly, February 12, 2026]
Welcome to the latest installment of Washington Secrets, your user guide to the capital’s politics. Today, we have the juice on who will stand in for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt when she goes on maternity leave.
President Donald Trump will lose his “machine gun lips” in May when Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, goes on maternity leave, vacating the lectern while she has her second baby.
Senate Republicans find their secret weapon as they try to navigate midterm 'headwinds' with Palm Beach getaway.
The result is rampant speculation about who might replace one of Trump’s most effective officials.
Tricia McLaughlin, the glamorous and punchy spokeswoman at the Department of Homeland Security, has frequently been cited by administration officials as the best equipped to stand in. Her Fox News appearances have won rave reviews, and she has, after all, been well and truly tested in recent weeks amid a series of crises.
But Secrets can reveal that Leavitt will not have a stand-in. Instead, her role will be covered by a rolling cast of big hitters.
“Marco [Rubio] will get up,” she told Secrets in the comfort of her White House office, where a log fire burned against the winter cold. “So too will the Vice President. There will be special guests.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance are two of the biggest names in an administration built of cabinet secretaries picked in part for their prowess on television. Any appearances they make will trigger comparisons and more intrigue about which will emerge as the strongest contender for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination.
Secrets will leave headlines about 2028 auditions to others. But that it will take such important figures to fill in is a reminder of how the youngest press secretary in history — Leavitt is still only 28 — has been one of the breakout stars of the Trump administration.
“She is so impressive,” cooed one first-time visitor to the Briefing Room on Tuesday. “And you could see her face toughen when she got a question she didn’t like.”
Minutes earlier, Leavitt had ended the briefing by rolling through a list of the administration’s achievements after being asked one time too many about ties between Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Jeffrey Epstein.
Her take-no-prisoners approach made her an indispensable figure during the last months of the election campaign.
She famously managed only four days of maternity leave when she had her first baby, named Niko, in July 2024, hurrying back on to the airwaves after the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Lara Trump, the President’s daughter-in-law, shut down any suggestions that Leavitt could be replaced during a recent interview, citing how she handled her first pregnancy.
“Karoline Leavitt is a machine. She’s incredible. And she’s going nowhere,” Lara, Eric Trump’s wife, told Fox News. “We’re all going to be watching as Karoline Leavitt absolutely schools the fake news media while she’s probably eight and nine months pregnant.”
She also played down any idea that there would be a permanent replacement.
“I’ve seen some stories out there … who’s next in line? Nobody’s next in line. It’s Karoline,” Leavitt said.
Other names in the mix were NewsNation host Katie Pavlich, former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, Fox News host Laura Ingraham, and Monica Crowley, Trump’s protocol chief and former Fox News contributor.
©®You are reading "Washington Secrets", a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, for The Washington Examiner.
Thank You, Trumpist!!! 🙏❤️
Rubio and Vance filling in now and then will be awesome.
I actually do not regularly watch the press conferences…I’ve seen some, enough to know how fortunate we are to have Leavitt!
❤️🇺🇸🕊🇫🇷🕊🌎
I do concur 💯 💯!
👍🏻🙏🏻
BB. It happened again. clicking on today's banner pic of the river brought up yesterday's Brief.
Hello from France 🇫🇷, Richard !
🇫🇷🫂🕊️💕🇺🇲
Do you access to Badlands from a computer or rather a smartphone ?
If you use a smartphone, do you use the Substack app, or just access with your usual web browser?
I don't meet the same situation when clicking on the picture on my Android Brave web browser.
The picture is linked ton this url:
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5Pge!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52e945c0-e689-4205-8d68-47c7999f46af_1248x702.webp
Thank you for asking. I receive an email each morning and click on a picture (using my small screen MacBook Air) to read the article in a Brave browser (easier for my old eyes to read the Substack version.) . I have learned to check the date of the Brief after clicking. If it's the wrong date, I go down to another picture in today's email and click. that is my work around. I will survive.
I replied directly to Burning Bright in your original thread with his own answers.
I asked him to come read this discussion…
Your answer seems to explain the situation:
That's not the picture from the website which carries the “wrong” url, it's the picture embedded in the mail you receive!
I hope one of our Badlanders will be able to fix this matter for all their subscribers !
I wish you a nice day ☀️
Why won't these "survivors" name names. Their identities are out there so no protection for that. Elon has guaranteed the finances if they are sued...so why won't they say??
Hello from France 🇫🇷, Carolyn!
🇫🇷🕊️🫂💕🇺🇲
This comment and this article will perfectly fit you ... 🤗😉
https://badlands.substack.com/p/badlands-brief-405/comment/213712078
They are not "fossil" fuels. The poll is another batch of BS. Dems are responsible for high energy costs and unbearable restrictions and requirements. Nuclear power seems more the President's focus to me.