The annual Carbondalien festival in Carbondale isn\u2019t until November, but over the weekend, antisocial media buzzed with reports of local sightings of strange visitors from another world.<\/p>\n
Jared and Ivanka Kushner were spotted at the Viewmont Diner on Business Route 6, which has a Scranton address but is a Sunday staple for many Midvalley families. It\u2019s a rare brunch rush that features the president\u2019s son-in-law and U.S. special envoy for peace missions strolling in wearing shorts and a ballcap.<\/p>\n
The initial shock of the Kushners appearing in the same space as everyday earthlings was too much for this professional absurdist to accept at face value. It\u2019s the equivalent of bumping into Mitch McConnell at Wegmans. The incognito U.S. senator from Kentucky is on presumed eternity leave until someone produces credible proof he\u2019s still among the living. Seeing Mitch in the checkout line would be an international scoop, but even with a selfie, few would believe he was there. Or alive.<\/p>\n
Ever-vigilant Times-Tribune Staff Writer Frank Wilkes Lesnefsky texted me a screenshot of a Facebook post featuring \u201cJavanka\u201d posing with diner staff, which I immediately dismissed as AI-generated slop. I thought Frank was pranking me.<\/p>\n
Turns out that even in this exasperating age of \u201cdeepfakes\u201d and cheap, creepy memes, you can occasionally still believe your overwhelmed eyes. Jared and Ivanka really did visit the Viewmont Diner. Right?<\/p>\n
Why they were there is anyone\u2019s guess. I reached out to the few press contacts I could find for the couple, including through Affinity Partners, Jared\u2019s private equity firm and a major investor in the Homer City Energy Campus in Indiana County, about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
Investors plan to develop a 3,200-acre natural gas-fired power plant and data center complex on the former site of a coal-fed energy plant. Homer City is a past coal hub with a population of about 1,800 and a median household income of about $65,000, making it an attractive target for predatory outsiders promising a windfall of jobs and tax revenue.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t hear back from Jared\u2019s people, so I can only speculate on why the Kushners would quietly visit Our Stiff Neck of the Woods. It\u2019s possible they were here for some ordinary reason, but I can\u2019t imagine one. Since the AI industry and its many tentacles are almost entirely speculative, educated guesses are routinely the best option available to the average observer.<\/p>\n
The parallels between Homer City, Archbald and a host of neighboring communities targeted by the data center invasion are absurdly obvious. Despite countless pathetic attempts to conceal the web of local, national and international connections behind the invasion, the broad strokes couldn\u2019t be easier to read.<\/p>\n