Michigan's Snyder attacked an Air Force Veteran who's agribusiness were grass fed hogs.

Free range Mangalitsa Hogs from the Baker Family Farm 

April 17, 2012

Health Impact (click here) News Editor Comments: In this shocking story, family farmer and United States Air Force veteran Mark Baker talks about how the Michigan DNR wants to destroy his family’s herd of free-range pigs due to a new classification that makes them illegal in Michigan. The Bakers’ raise Mangalitsa Hogs. Here is a description of this specialty breed from their website....

If Michigan wants to become enlightened about 'native' hogs then the laws also provide for 'grandfathering' of those farmers that already exist in practice of other breeds. There was no reason for any attack on a military veteran providing for his family. The legislation was very poorly done.

Mr. Baker specializes in hogs that yield a higher quality pork and the restaurant chiefs locally love it. For whatever reason, the Snyder administration saw fit to attempt to shut down his farm operation. Does anyone realize how difficult it is to find a method to a profitable farm? The veteran achieved it and the Snyder administration wanted to destroy it without any notice or assistance to help him transition. Just put him out of business. 

Bring on one of those big hog producers from China and build a big feedlot instead. And with ten employees Snyder can provide a free visa to the USA.

A faux front. Senator Harkin is correct.

Ms. Ernst puts on a nice face, but, it is a faux front. If it were articulated differently the message couldn't be said.

In recent days it has come to the notice of some in politics that Ms. Ernst is an extremist, especially when it comes to gun rights. She is a very deceptive individual carrying two sets of values; the ones she campaigns with and the ones her donors know will provide for their profits. Gun rights issues are about MONEY, not GUNS.

Don't ask me how Ernst can be offended, she opened her campaigning with hog castration. Hello?

Harkin: Ernst may be 'attractive,' 'nice,' but wrong for Iowa (click here)

Where is PETA when you need them?

This is among the more sophisticated means of which hog castration occurs. Unsanitary, without gloves, infecting each piglet as the chore is done and without any numbing method. It's fairly brutal to the little pig. Infections don't matter, pigs are fed antibiotics everyday. That is how they survive feed lots.

When it isn't necessary to be cruel to animals it should be avoided. Now a days, most meat products with high demand are pasture fed. This little piglet will go into a feed lot under a roof and not know anything else. This just is not 2014. It could be and should be improved. I doubt the campaigns will even debate this as elections are tomorrow, but, animal rights groups need to take heed when a candidate advocates for inhumane practices.

What percentage of the US House and Senate will be owned by the Koch Brothers?

October 13, 2014
By Joan McCarter

...Ernst (click here) defended the support she’s receiving from David and Charles Koch by saying that she has never signed any pledge and has promised the brothers nothing. Braley responded by noting that she’s signed a no-new-taxes pledge.

"You attended two secret Koch brother donor meetings in California," he said. "You called them wonderful at that meeting … The Kochs have seven different organizations attacking me right now."...

In races where the Koch Brothers are depositing extremely high amounts of campaign funding, their political agenda is mirrored by those they fund.

Thom Tillis (click here) and the billionaire, Big Oil Koch brothers are rigging the system to work against the middle class. Tillis and the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity are in lock-step when it comes to an agenda that is out-of-touch and disastrous for North Carolina.

Want to know what the Tillis-Koch agenda is all about? Take a look:...

- Thom Tillis (Republican) called raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour-- which would benefit more than 1 million North Carolina workers -- a "dangerous idea."......The Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity sides with Tillis against the workers of North Carolina...

- The Koch brothers' front group Americans for Prosperity endorsed the controversial Ryan Budget Plan, authored by Congressman Paul Ryan. The plan would give massive tax cuts to millionaires while turning Medicare into a voucher program that could cost seniors more. Thom Tillis has praised the Ryan Budget Plan as a model for the agenda he would pursue as North Carolina Speaker of the House.

- When Thom Tillis was in charge of the North Carolina state House, the legislature cut nearly half a billion dollars from public education. Tillis also refused to raise teacher pay in North Carolina -- which already ranks 46th in the nation in teacher pay. The Koch brothers' front group Americans for Prosperity agrees with Tillis.

- Under Thom Tillis' leadership, the N.C. General Assembly raised taxes on 80 percent of North Carolinians by ending the state's Earned Income Tax Credit and passing a tax plan that benefited the wealthiest at the expense of middle class families. With North Carolinians skeptical about Tillis' harmful tax hike, the Koch Brothers' Americans for Prosperity poured money into TV ads promoting the state legislature's tax plan before it became law....

...Thom Tillis recklessly slashed unemployment insurance benefits in 2013, cutting off federal long-term benefits entirely for 170,000 North Carolinians. This fringe decision made North Carolina the only state in the country to be disqualified from the federal program -- and since then, Tillis has said he would vote against federal legislation that would right this wrong for jobless North Carolinians. The Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity applauded Tillis and his fellow Republicans for a "reformed" unemployment insurance system....

...Thom Tillis led efforts to block Medicaid expansion in North Carolina, which would provide critical health insurance coverage to an estimated 500,000 North Carolinians. The Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity has praised this Tillis-led, out-of-touch decision -- and has campaigned across the country for states to reject the Affordable Care Act's funding for Medicaid expansion....

...Agriculture is North Carolina's biggest industry, adding $77 billion annually to the state's economy and employing nearly one-fifth of the state's workforce. Thom Tillis said he would have voted against the bipartisan Farm Bill approved by Congress in 2014 that was supported by North Carolina farmers and agricultural groups and reduced the deficit by billions. The Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity also criticized the bill and urged lawmakers to vote against the bipartisan measure....

It is getting to be the best political joke going. Where Republicans run for office there are the Koch Brothers purchasing another piece of the legislature. It is best to identify this to the electorate for them to realize, the candidates are backed by a single company seeking profits with each vote cast. If the Republicans didn't have the Kochs, they would never be elected.

According to the Palm Beach Post, David Koch has been very active in Wisconsin politics with the group Americans for Prosperity. Americans for Prosperity reportedly spent $700,000 on ads supporting Governor Scott Walker's changes to collective bargaining.

...So enter billionaires (click here) two and three: Charles and David Koch and their Americans for Prosperity group. This is the same group that spent $120 million plus in the 2012 election cycle supporting Republicans and are currently pouring millions into the 2014 election cycle on behalf of GOP candidates.

Last week, the Koch brothers’ AFP mailed out two different sets of fliers to Iron County residents, the first attacking candidates who oppose the mine and the second praising those who support it. As AFP’s Wisconsin director David Fladeboe told The Wisconsin State Journal, these mailing were just the start of a campaign, “to educate folks in Iron County about the issue.”...

Georgia is where the intent of the Koch Brothers becomes obvious. Georgia is not a gas and oil state, so why the money? 

The map (click here) to the left clearly illustrates there is absolutely no oil and gas to be found in Georgia. 

The Koch Brothers want to buy power along with their oil and gas rights. Power will turn a majority in the US House and Senate hence enabling corruption for a free for all by the petroleum industry, including the Koch Brothers. Georgia is where they give away their BET on winning majorities to favor themselves.

July 7, 2014

By James Salzer

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Koch brothers (click here) major fund raiser of conservative causes throughout the country, are writing some big checks in Georgia races this election year.

Their Wichita, Kansas-based oil, gas and textile conglomerate Koch Industries filed a report Monday showing it donated $65,000 on May 6 to state candidates and causes - almost all Republicans. Of that, $50,000 went to a state GOP fund.

Since late October, it has contributed about $101,000 in Georgia, include $12,600 to Gov. Nathan Deal’s re-election campaign, $5,000 to Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and $2,500 the day before the 2014 General Assembly session started to House Speaker David Ralston.

That total since late October is nearly as much as the brothers and their companies gave in Georgia between 2006 and the start of October 2013....

The Attorney Generals seat in Colorado. This may be throwing off the usual responses from Democrats in Colorado. Koch is seeking to purchase the state AG office for their own use.

The petroleum industry isn't endorsing a candidate, they are seeking control of power. Those are very different goals. Republicans are robotic in their priorities and positions. There is no variety in personality. They are mean spirited to roll over any possible opposition to DEMOCRACY. The petroleum industry wants power at the cost of American's air and water quality and land values. 

July 31, 2014

By Josh Israel

The campaign (click here) for the usually little-noticed position of Colorado Attorney General has been jolted with a stunning influx of outside money — a total one candidate says is more than quadruple the largest amount ever spent by a candidate for the position....

...RAGA is a Washington, DC-based “527″ political organization dedicated to helping elect and re-elect Republicans across the country to be state attorneys general and to help them in “fighting federal encroachment, protecting citizens against crime and promoting free markets.” So far this election cycle, it has disclosed about $7.4 million in contributions. The ad buy marks the group’s biggest reported expenditure to date.

Of these contributions, at least $868,400 came from Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, and other energy sector companies and trade associations, a ThinkProgress analysis of IRS data revealed. This accounted for more than 11 percent of RAGA’s funding, as of June 30. Another $1,204,700 came from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which receives a large amount of its funding from energy companies and Koch-backed entities. The Kochs have also supported conservative political organization that contributed to RARA, including the American Future Fund ($670,000) and the Republican Governors Association ($175,000)....

I could go through every ballot this year anywhere in the USA and where there is a open seat that would serve the petroleum industry, especially the Kochs, there are huge amounts of money being dumped into the campaign of Republicans. The petroleum industry knows UP FRONT they will win profits from Republican candidates where they won't necessarily with Democrats. The petroleum industry and their candidates corrupt the process of government and democracy at the time of elections and continue that throughout a Republicans term in office.

The Kochs are corrupt. Just that simple.

"Morning Papers" - It's Origin (click here)

The Rooster 

"Okeydoke"

I wish Brittany's family peace.

"Goodbye (click here) to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me ... but would have taken so much more," Maynard says in the post. 

"Good Night, Moon"

Waxing Gibbous

81.6% Full

10.6 Days Old

China takes an interesting approach to it's space program.

November 3, 2014
China Daily

The head of China's lunar probe (click here) program has called for a thorough analysis of data collected from the test lunar orbiter, which returned on Saturday, to speed up work on Chang'e-5 and its 2017 lunar mission.

The lunar orbiter, nicknamed Xiaofei on Chinese social networks, landed in Siziwang Banner, in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, early Saturday morning after an eight-day flight. China has joined the Soviet Union and the United States to become the third nation to realize a return mission to the moon.

Search teams have already recovered the orbiter at the designated landing area, about 500 kilometers from Beijing.

Launched on Oct 24, the orbiter traveled 840,000 kilometers on a mission that saw it circle the far side of the moon and photograph the Earth and moon together.

The re-entry process began at around 6:13 am with the orbiter approaching Earth at a velocity of about 11.2 km per second.

To help it slow down, the craft is designed to "bounce" off the edge of the atmosphere before re-entering, a process compared to a stone skimming across water, and so shorten the "braking distance" for the orbiter, according to Zhou Jianliang, chief engineer with the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center....

The African American community has a boat load of reasons to seek a change in their representation at any level of government. Their reasons are unique to their racial status. I would expect from this year forward there is going to be more and more African American voters going to the polls with one primary thought in mind; "We want someone who values the lives of our children as much as we do."

I would expect more and more legislators will be paying attention to commercials whereby their name does not appear as one that supports the African American community in instituting laws that protect ALL Americans and not simply the Caucasian variety. I would guess the minority populations, including, Hispanic voters might see the qualifications for election differently as well.

I don't want to hear the two words "Race Card" again. If used it will clearly indicate a bigot stated it. There is NO race card, there is only laws that uphold the dignity of life for all Americans.

According to my standard, Chris Wallace now qualifies as a bigot.

End of discussion.

African Americans have the most danger in their lives by the simple fact their skin is dark.

Stand Your Ground laws and racial bias (click here)

June 5, 2013

By John Roman

There is actually no doubt. Stand Your Ground laws increase justified homicides.

Alabama: Code of Ala. § 13A-3-23(a)(3) (click here)
Arizona: A.R.S. § 13-411(A)
Florida: Fla. Stat §§ 776.031, 776.08
Georgia: O.C.G.A. § 16-3-23(3)
Kentucky: KRS § 503.080(2)(b)

In at least five of these states Stand Your Ground laws go beyond self-defense, it allows death for issues regarding property. This applies to personal property such as money, cell phones and cameras even if it has little to no value. Six states allow the use of deadly force if there is a burglary to a building even if it is not the shooter's building. As a matter of fact the shooter can use deadly force even if no one is in the building, the building is not his, he is not a lease holder of the building. There is absolutely no danger to anyone, but, because someone, anyone, maybe even the owner of the building was entering with suspicion the shooter is allowed to use deadly force.

Evidently, Cambridge, Massachusetts doesn't favor such laws.

An unarmed woman, scared for her life dies trying to save it. "Stand Your Ground."

November 7, 2013

By Joe Patrice

...Renisha McBride (click here) was a 19-year-old woman living in Michigan. On Saturday, she got into a car accident in Dearborn Heights at around 2:30 a.m. Unable to call for help, because her cell phone was dead, Renisha went to a nearby home to seek assistance. While “I was in an accident and need help, please let me in” is a clichéd horror movie trope, the reason it’s a stupid horror movie trope is the homeowner doesn’t ever need to open the door — just call 911 and let them take care of it! And if you feel the person seeking help needs more immediate aid, call 911 first, then go help them — and if they were planning to hurt you, he or she would have skedaddled off knowing that the police are en route and there’s little to no time to do whatever nefarious act he or she had planned.

In this case, the homeowner opted not to call the police. Instead, he opted to open the door and kill Renisha. At present, the story is that after shooting Renisha, the homeowner — whose name is withheld — did not immediately inform the authorities. I mean, he didn’t see the need to call the police before when she was asking for help, why call the police after he killed someone?...

Walking down a street is a very dangerous thing for young black men. Just walking. Just standing. Just talking. The cops stop because it looks suspicious.

Ford’s death occurred barely 48 hours after police in the small town of Ferguson, Missouri opened fire and killed Michael Brown, a black teenager who was reportedly unarmed at the time of the incident. 

August 15, 2014
By Thomas Johnson

...The Los Angeles Times (click here) reported that Dorene Henderson, a family friend, witnessed part of the incident and “saw no struggle between the officers and Ford.” Henderson said that neighbors began yelling at the officers: “He’s got mental problems.”

Ford’s parents said he was diagnosed with depression and later schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A man who identified himself as Ford’s cousin told Los Angeles news station KTLA: “They laid him out and for whatever reason, they shot him in the back, knowing mentally, he has complications. Every officer in this area, from the Newton Division, knows that — that this child has mental problems,” the man said. In addition: “The excessive force … there was no purpose for it. The multiple shootings in the back while he’s laying down? No. Then when the mom comes, they don’t try to console her … they pull the billy clubs out.”

KTLA reported that Ford’s mother, Tritobia Ford, said her son “was lying on the ground and complying with the officers’ commands when he was shot three times.”

“My heart is so heavy,” she told the station. “My son was a good kid. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did.”

Police took another view....

It is not the race card, it is however a resolve to vote for candidates that will actually stand their ground on what is right and wrong.

Police officers keep watch while demonstrators (not pictured) protest the death of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri August 12, 2014 (Reuters / Mario Anzuoni)

Michael Brown, Jr. was gunned down at the age of 18 years old for absolutely no reason. He was gunned down by a police officer that used his gun for control because he was a piss poor officer. Will he be charged? No. See, being a piss poor officer doesn't mean you are guilty of murder, it simply means you are a piss, poor officer that needs his gun to collect his paycheck. Killing isn' this problem, it is control of 'the street' that is his problem and every black man anywhere near the officer was going to know he doesn't mess around and this could be you, too.

August 12, 2014
By David L. Lieb

“Big Mike,” (click here) as some of his friends called Michael Brown Jr., wasn’t the type to fight, family and neighbors said, though he lived in a restless neighborhood where police were on frequent patrol. His parents and neighbors described him as a good-hearted kid with an easy smile who certainly wouldn’t have condoned the violence and looting that spread though his north St. Louis suburb following his death. “He was funny, silly, he would make you laugh,” his father said, and when there was “any problem going on, any situation, there wasn’t nothing that he couldn’t solve. He could bring people back together.”...

"Dad, do you think I might be a good ball player in college, enough to make people notice?" I imagine he had many hopes, but, that doesn't matter so long as the shooting was a good shooting.

This is just Florida. There is no race card here, there is murder.

The Trayvon Martin case was only one case in many.

Those who stood, those who fell: fatal cases (click here)

Critics say "stand your ground" turned Florida into the Wild West. Supporters say it has helped keep innocents out of jail. The truth of how the law has been used over the past six years was unknown until now.

What follows is the most comprehensive list of "stand your ground" cases ever created. Browse by victim or defendant, by fatal or nonfatal cases. Hover over a photo to explore the basics of each case or click it for a more detailed case file. Use the buttons at right to filter by race, sex and location....

...The youngest was nine-year-old Sherdavia Jenkins, who was killed in the crossfire of a dispute in which the defendant unsuccessfully raised the Stand Your Ground defense....

When my sons were home and growing up we were best friends.

We breathed the same spiritual air. We loved the life we lived. We loved the values we head dear. We loved the happiness we found with each other. We were soul mates long before they found their soul mate for the rest of their lives in young women that fascinated them. 

I know the love these mothers have for their sons. What I never realized was that when a young black man dies due to gun violence the community unites to tell the tale and remind each other it will happen again. It will happen again. "This could be your son..."

When Michael Dunn (click here) was on trial for killing a 17-year-old in Jacksonville, most didn’t know much more about the victim other than that he was shot over a dispute over “loud music.” But before Jordan Davis became another symbol of Florida’s deeply divisive “stand your ground” policy, he was just a kid. This is his story, told by the friends and family who knew him best....

...Jordan’s mom, Lucy McBath, piled the kids from Jordan’s homeschool co-op group into her SUV and drove them to rink. She liked to skate too. “It would be funny because I would deliberately be passing him and be like, ‘Hey, Jordan,’” Lucy said during a recent interview with BuzzFeed. “I would be needling him as I was skating past: Jordan, I love you!”

“Mom, you’re embarrassing me!” Jordan would respond....

For absolutely no damn good reason a young black man died. What has to happen so the media stops creating 'a race card' excuse?

Updated: Dec.. 1, 2011 (click here)

In the early morning hours of Nov. 25, 2006, Sean Bell, a 23-year-old New York City man due to be married later that day, walked out of a Queens strip club, climbed into a gray Nissan Altima with two friends who had been celebrating with him — and died in a hail of 50 bullets fired by a group of five police officers.

The shooting shocked the city and brought back memories of the deaths in other high-profile police shootings — in particular, the death of Amadou Diallo, an African peddler killed after police fired 41 shots at him in 1999. Both men were black and both were unarmed, although in both cases the officers appeared to have believed the suspect had a gun....

...After hearing evidence in the case, Deputy Commissioner Martin G. Karopkin, acting as the trial judge, ruled that the Detective Isnora acted improperly. He recommended that Detective Isnora be fired for his actions during the shooting and for stepping outside his role as an undercover officer, thereby endangering himself and others, the official said.

As for a second officer, Michael Carey, Mr. Karopkin recommended that he be found not guilty of improperly firing his weapon and that he be allowed to stay on the force, said the official, who insisted on anonymity because the matter was continuing....

The night Oscar Grant was murdered no one asked for his rap sheet.

...Grant had been arrested (click here) five times between the ages of 18 and the time of his death, and spent around two years total in jail. On one occasion, he gave a sworn statement to police that he was selling ecstasy to a few regular customers. His family has said that prior to his death Grant was beginning to think seriously about changing his life for the better; his girlfriend, Sophina Mesa (Melonie Diaz), with whom he had a four-year-old daughter, said that two days before his death they talked about getting their own place together and moving away from their hometown. Grant was apparently planning to attend barber school, having learned how to cut his fellow inmates’ hair....

The media seems to like to victimize the victim and justify the unjustifiable violence of police officers by the fact a young black man was previously arrested. Huh? Oscar Grant was unarmed. He was among a group of young black men that were sitting on a concrete floor without any recourse to their safety. Their safety was at the mercy of the BART cops. 

I don't know how a young black man doesn't have a rap sheet in the year 2014 or previous. I recall our President and Attorney General stating they had incidents in their lives whereby their conduct was called into question for absolutely not other reason except their skin color.

Previous records do not justify the death of anyone, including young black men that are unarmed and innocent of wrong doing at the time of their death. No copy can simply assign him or herself into being judge and jury and KILL. 

Free country. Free for who?

There are some personalities in the news industry that are believed to be most trustworthy above others. 

Today, on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace in an interview with a senior Democrat stated, "Are they playing the race card?" 

Really?

Chris Wallace has been around long enough to know when laws have gone astray in the USA. I find it hard to believe he doesn't understand that a young, black man was gunned down in Florida for absolutely no reason at all except he was someone's idea of 'his duty' to stop burglary in a gated communities neighborhood.

This isn't playing any card. This is reminding people within a state how dangerous life has become for young, black men. It is to remind people about the laws responsible for Trayvon Martin's death. 

George Zimmerman was empowered to act on his own because of laws called, "Stand Your Ground" and "The Castle Doctrine." If those two laws were not ever passed by Florida State legislatures Trayvon Martin would be alive today.

I don't call this progress.

My imagination never took that path. I think the imagination of what can happen to a human body has gone in a direction that needs to have a separate rating called "C" for censurable. It is unfortunate there are now zombies and the living dead that have taken over the imagination of people. 

This form of graphic expression as well as most of the crazy concepts that litter the human imagination these days started during the Bush White House. It can be traced back to those beginnings. These 'ideas' were never in the American landscape before. The place where terrorists took precedent over sanity and anything could happen. I still don't understand zombie pictures or programs, nor do I want to. I think it is the weirdest garbage out there.

It's Sunday Night

"Dangerous" by Big Data (click here for official website)

How could you know, how could you know?
That those were my eyes
Peepin' through the floor, it's like they know
It's like they know I'm looking from the outside
And creeping to the door, it's like they know

And now they coming, yeah, now they coming
Out from the shadows
To take me to the club because they know
That I shut this down, 'cause they been watching all my windows
They gathered up the wall and listening
You understand, they got a plan for us
I bet you didn't know that I was dangerous
It must be fate, I found a place for us
I bet you didn't know someone could love you this much

How could they know, how could they know
What I've been thinking?
But they're right inside my head because they know
Because they know, what I've been hidin'
They're right under my bed, they're in control

Here they come, yeah here they come
Out of the shadows
To take me to the club because they know
That I shut this down, 'cause they been watching all my windows
They gathered up the wall and 'cause they
I've gotta get out of here
Sink down, into the dark
Keep on running
And I've gotta get out of here (keep on running)
Sink down, into the dark

You understand, they got a plan for us
I bet you didn't know that I was dangerous
It must be fate, I found a place for us
I bet you didn't know someone could love you this much

Nobody's listening when we're alone
Nobody's listening, there's nobody listening,
No one can hear us when we're alone
No one can hear us, no, no one can hear us

And I've gotta get out of here
Sink down, into the dark
Keep on running
I've gotta get out of here (Keep on running)
Sink down, into the dark
You understand, they got a plan for us
I bet you didn't know that I was dangerous
It must be fate, I found a place for us
I bet you didn't know someone could love you this much