The Curse of the Bambino and the Basel Convention
The Blessing of Big Papi: Why Basel Needs Jackie Robinson
What Jim Puckett Can Learn from the Red Sox
(Three alternate titles)
The 2026 E-Waste World Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, had free attendance. That was a major draw for members of the World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association (WR3A), which had at least 4 attendees. Of course, we originally had 3 attendees coming to rival E-Waste conference ICM in Valencia, Spain in January 2026. I even bought my plane ticket to that much older conference, because it had initially accepted my proposal - Let Jim Puckett of Basel Action Network debate live on stage with two African Tech Sector geeks.
In this sports analogy blog, as we discuss Major League Baseball's integration of the "Negro League", and WSJ points out 25% of the USA FIFA Soccer Team are immigrants, we take a look at when the old oveweight player has to give up his seat on the team bench. Jim Puckett's opening statement, in his curious role as "Expert on E-Waste in Africa", was to state on the record that "First and foremost, Africa is the same as it was 20 years ago. Nothing has changed."
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ICM initially invited Jim to speak alongside just one of those Geeks, Nana Yaw Konodu, a German who came from Ghana about 40 years ago, but who 5 years ago opened a remanufacturing factory in Accra, Ghana. (We introduced him to Recycling International editors at the E-Waste World Conference in 2025, and he made their list of Top 100 important recyclers that year).
Why is Jim's opening statement so ... weird? Twenty years ago, he and I were quoted in Charles Schmidt's NIH article on Africa's importation of used electronics, and I was already wrong (way behind) then - and was farther ahead than Jim was. Here's the thing: For the Basel Convention to remain in force, OECD has to be kept in a separate league from Non-OECD. About 35% of the World's industrial economies have to be kept separate from the other 65%. It's about protecting the job of the overweight aging baseball or football player, already sitting on the bench. if Jackie Robinson, Bob Gibson, Willie Mays, and Lou Brock are allowed to play.
Mysteriously, Nana Yaw was "de-invited" to ICM conference at the last possible minute (I have preserved emails). He and I canceled our trips rather than pay a thousand plus Euros to sit in the audience and listen to "Expert" Jim Puckett tell us about Africa. And with a little maneuvering, E-Waste World Conference in Frankfurt made hay out of that, jumping on the invitation to invite Jim Puckett, Nana Yaw Konadu and Emmanuel Nyaletey (BridgeSolarPower.com, who helped WR3A with the 2015 tours of Agbogbloshie and the 2015 Clean Hands Teaser - Hurricane Benson interview minidocumentary).
(I'll pass on what the "maneuvering" involved.. a little bit of my Obi-Wan Kenobi stepping off the panel helped, as did E-Waste World splurging multiple platforms to Senor Puckett).
This morning's Wall Street Journal Opinion Page (my comment spun into this post) is titled "America's Immigrant Soccer Team", and centers on how much of its success owes to 25% of the roster being "birthright" citizens.
The comment section I waded into divides MAGA Trump Support commenters from Free Market business owners (who benefit from talent in any labor situation). And as my comment calls it, the line is over what should be "legal" immigration. Calling balls and strikes, where is that line? And how does it compare to these lines we've drawn in the past?
