Natural Gas 4 Us: Our Country of Thee I Sing

A cliché often heard is “History repeats itself. “According to Wikipedia, supposedly Winston Churchill once remarked The adage “history is also written by the victors” Or possibly a German might have said it in 1941 before Mr. Churchill later claimed it as his own. It is one of the most cited quotes pertaining to the academic discipline of history, used to illustrate that history can be highly subjective because the people, groups or nations involved will mold accounts to their own ends. More specifically, the version of history written by the victorious people, groups or nations – the more powerful ones – will usually win out.

Now with the Internet and social media we have multiple and varied personal interpretations to be true and accurate accounts of history. I recently high lighted Ken Burns documentary on The National Parks: America’s Best Idea a series produced by Ken Burns, filmed over six years at some of nature’s most spectacular locales – from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska. It is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background, people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy. It premiered on PBS: September 2009. It would be an achievement if it was presented to every high school student in the country. It would be history making. But as with the federal Department of Education the Public Broadcasting System is now history as of September 30, 2025. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), was a private, nonprofit American corporation whose members were the public television stations of the United States. PBS provided its member stations with programming in cultural, educational, and scientific areas, in children’s fare, and in news and public affairs. The programs were produced by the member stations, independent producers, & other program producers worldwide.

As of September 30, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is winding down its operations after the Trump administration and Congress slashed its funding. The organization funded PBS and NPR, as well as more than 1,500 local TV and radio stations. The organization cited a recent Senate Appropriations Committee bill which excluded Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding “for the first time in more than five decades.” The organization also cited a “federal rescissions package,” which canceled $1.1 billion that had been approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. President Donald Trump signed the bill after threatening to withhold endorsements from Republican Senators who didn’t vote to approve it. Another cliche, “Let freedom ring.”

Watching on PBS another documentary about the Gilded Age one can see amazing parallels with our present transition from national consolidation and banker control of competition and manipulation to the present day on a global scale. Today in our Golden Age AI Data Centers are being proposed all over country. The facilities are mammoth dwarfing the local scale. People are pushing back, why here, why so large, what is the benefit to community. Bringing this to the Allegheny River Valley Bitcoin mining data center company Bitfarms has expanded its US portfolio following the completion of its acquisition of Stronghold Digital Mining, Inc.

The deal includes the takeover of two stranded power plants in Pennsylvania - Scrubgrass and Panther Creek - which have the potential to generate nearly 1GW of energy for high-performance computing and AI workloads, Ben Gagnon, CEO of Bitfarms, told CNBC. They now have an Equity Partner and have raised $360 million dollars going forward. At Scrubgrass where Bitcoin is produced, there is also over 300,000 tons of residual fly ash on site. It is under a DEP consent decree to be removed by September 2026. In the meantime, gone is the Rose Garden and Ballroom as we enter Trumps second year of reign. Reining him in is unlikely but as in History the Alpha Kings, Queens, Pharaohs, Emperors, Dictators, Popes and Patriarchs all pass away. Watching the Moose, Big Horn Sheep, Grizzly Bears, Elk, Gorillas and even Turkeys butting heads it is not hard to imagine, or judge: good, bad, or indifferent, Trump and Putin aged and exhausted soon to be passe and gone. May we survive and not squander hope in a better future, creating a vision that we can all collectively embrace. “Our Country Tis of Thee.”

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