It was a mere two weeks ago that I wrote about attempts to dump radioactive trash from New York into the Van Buren landfill.
The end of that story was that specific waste from a specific site would NOT come here.
But …
But now we learn that the Wayne Disposal site is probably going to be allowed to increase its acceptance of both more radioactive waste, as well as highly toxic chemicals (such as PCBs) by 23%.
By going another 225 feet up in the air.
It would be nice if the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) could do something to stop this, but it can’t.
According to reports, as long of Wayne Disposal “follows relevant state and federal laws, state environmental regulators have no ability to deny its request to expand its storage capacity.”
That would mean expanding the site’s ability to store such waste from 22 million cubic yards to 27 million.
There was a time when all that was near the site was Willow Run Airport, which was created in 1941 to house a bomber factory; the landfill had its founding sometime in the early 1950s.
(In a poetry of ironies, the area was home to the start of World War II and now is home to the radioactive detritus from its end.)
But today, the region is also home to a burgeoning residential area, a delightful downtown Belleville and a beautiful recreational Lake Belleville (and nearby Ford Lake).
The problem is that possession is nine-tenths of the law — and the landfill was there first, and has consistently received government permission to expand its size and also expand its acceptance of hazardous and toxic trash over the decades.
Sadly, that expansion will soon … expand — by another 23%.
MEN-IN-BLACK CAUSE VIOLENT CONFRONTATION WITH DRIVER
It was bound to happen: a violent confrontation between armed, masked men who refuse to identify themselves and a motorist who speeds away in fear.
Gunshots ensue.
According to press reports, a handful of Men-in-Black approached the car, refused to identify themselves to the motorist and then shattered the driver’s side window.
The man — who had his family with him in the car — then sped away, apparently hitting one or more of the masked men on his way to safety.
In response, the Men-in-Black opened fire on his vehicle, hitting it at least three times.
Frightened, the man drove to the nearest police station to report the incident.
The later-identified federal agents later went to the motorist’s home, but left without arresting anyone.
Yep, it was just a matter of time before the obvious was going to happen: Americans were going to challenge the approach of masked, unidentified and armed ninjas; confrontations that could have (and now have) turned violent.
In this age of domestic terrorism — with similarly armed and masked right-wing paramilitary groups threatening Americans at every turn (or threatening to kidnap our governor) — is it little wonder that we’d end up with such a violent encounter?
Of course, it’s not going to happen to me: I’m a white male who wears a U.S. Army veteran ball cap, has an Army license plate and has a gray beard — which means I don’t meet the profile.
But walk up to my car dressed like a movie villain, and refuse to identify yourself and I might just have to drive to the nearest cop shop, too.
And if you pull your gun on me and happen to be in the way …
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN CONTROL
We all know what happened — or actually what didn’t happen — in Alaska over the weekend: Trump met with Putin, kissed his ring and then came back to Washington without a deal on Ukraine.
(This is from the man who famously said he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours” after being sworn in. Right …)
But the real story is what Trump was thinking; how could he even have imagined doing a “deal” without involving Ukraine in the conversation?
It’s like a guy trying to work out his marriage by talking to his fantasy-league bud, while his wife sits home alone.
You didn’t really want to work this out, did you?
It was Trump being stupid at the least, murderous at the most, since his inability to even get Putin to agree to a ceasefire coming out of Anchorage means more people dying in Ukraine.
But it’s possible Trump might have gotten a dose of his own medicine Monday when Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was joined at the White House with top leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Finland.
Also expected to be there was Mark Rutte, secretary-general of NATO.
They were there precisely because Trump excluded Zelenskyy from the Alaska “summit.”
Unfortunately, I had to submit this before I knew what happened.
But I can’t wait to see him be schooled by those much smarter.
And more serious about containing an expansionist, murderous dictator threatening Europe and the world.
WHY DOES ISRAEL CONTINUE TO BOMB GAZA? HERE’S WHY
It’s hard to fathom: the Palestinians in Gaza want the daily attacks from Israel to end, the Israeli people want the war to end, Americans want the war to end, Europeans want the war to end.
So why hasn’t it ended, bringing the remaining Israeli hostages home, and ending the starvation in Gaza?
If you’ve been following Israeli politics, you know the answer: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been for some time facing a corruption trial.
So by staying on a war footing, he’s been able to divert attention away from his legal troubles and unite his political base.
Sound familiar?
Of course it does: It’s called diverting attention.
Which Trump uses all the time — such as announcing a surprise “summit” with Russia’s Putin (out of thin air) that excludes the Ukrainians and accomplishes nothing.
Except.
Except that for a brief shining moment no one is talking about Trump’s cozy relationship with convicted (and conveniently dead) pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the lack of information on the depth of that relationship.
What we do know, of course, is that his personal attorney (who has some kind of lawyer job in the DOJ) met privately with Epstein’s convicted pimp, Ghislaine Maxwell — and then moved her to Club Fed to serve her sentence.
But getting back to Gaza: there’s no reason to continue hammering civilians in order to cripple Hamas; intelligences from multiple countries — including Israel — say Hamas is a shell of its former self.
So by continuing to blast apart Gaza — and human bodies — Netanyahu is simply trying to save his own butt.
Which makes his refusal to end the war as much of a crime as the initial attack on unsuspecting Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023
‘FOUR DEAD IN OHIO’ IS IN MY HEAD WITH THIS STORY
Finally, there’s this: Washington, D.C. is a beautiful city, just like Detroit.
But there are parts of both cities I wouldn’t walk through.
That’s common sense.
But that’s not an indictment of the entire cities, nor of the people who run them.
However, that hasn’t stopped our convicted felon of a president from sending armed National Guardsmen and women into our nation’s capital to somehow tamp down crime.
And now we’ve learned that three states are planning to deploy members of their respective National Guards to Washington to help: West Virginia (300-400 troops), South Carolina (200) and Ohio (150).
Now, I can’t say much about the first two, but PLEASE don’t send the Ohio guard: they kill kids.
Maybe you weren’t around, but I was — I was a month from graduating high school — when panicked Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four students and wounded nine others at Kent State University.
Of course, maybe that’s precisely the kind of spark Trump is looking for in our American streets: confrontations that he can use to ramp up his authoritarian stream of unconsciousness.
At this point, I wouldn’t put anything past him and his Christian-Nationalist racists.
To read my essays — long and short — check out Substack.com and look for me at “Farrandipity.” It’s free.
Craig Farrand is a former managing editor of The News-Herald. I can be reached at craig.substack@gmail.com.
