"Amhrán na bhFiann"
"The Soldiers' Song"
Seo dhibh a chairde duan Oglaigh,
Cathreimeach briomhar ceolmhar,
Ar dtinte cnamh go buacach taid,
'S an speir go min realtogach
Is fonnmhar faobhrach sinn chun gleo
'S go tiunmhar gle roimh thiocht do'n lo
Fe chiunas chaomh na hoiche ar seol:
Seo libh canaidh Amhran na bhFiann
We'll sing song, a soldier's song,
With cheering rousing chorus,
As round our blazing fires we throng,
The starry heavens o'er us;
Impatient for the coming fight,
And as we wait the morning's light,
Here in the silence of the night,
We'll chant a soldier's song.
Sinne Firnna Fail
A ta fe gheall ag Eirinn,
buion dar slua
Thar toinn do rainig chugainn,
Fe mhoid bheith saor.
Sean tir ar sinsir feasta
Ni fhagfar fe'n tioran na fe'n trail
Anocht a theam sa bhearna bhaoil,
Le gean ar Ghaeil chun bais no saoil
Le guna screach fe lamhach na bpilear
Seo libh canaidh Amhran na bhFiann.
Soldiers are we
whose lives are pledged to Ireland;
Some have come
from a land beyond the wave.
Sworn to be free,
No more our ancient sire land
Shall shelter the despot or the slave.
Tonight we man the gap of danger
In Erin's cause, come woe or weal
'Mid cannons' roar and rifles peal,
We'll chant a soldier's song
Cois banta reidhe, ar ardaibh sleibhe,
Ba bhuachach ar sinsir romhainn,
Ag lamhach go trean fe'n sar-bhrat sein
Ta thuas sa ghaoith go seolta
Ba dhuchas riamh d'ar gcine chaidh
Gan iompail siar o imirt air,
'S ag siul mar iad i gcoinne namhad
Seo libh, canaidh Amhran na bhFiann
In valley green, on towering crag,
Our fathers fought before us,
And conquered 'neath the same old flag
That's proudly floating o'er us.
We're children of a fighting race,
That never yet has known disgrace,
And as we march, the foe to face,
We'll chant a soldier's song
Sinne Firnna Fail
A ta fe gheall ag Eirinn,
buion dar slua
Thar toinn do rainig chugainn,
Fe mhoid bheith saor.
Sean tir ar sinsir feasta
Ni fhagfar fe'n tioran na fe'n trail
Anocht a theam sa bhearna bhaoil,
Le gean ar Ghaeil chun bais no saoil
Le guna screach fe lamhach na bpilear
Seo libh canaidh Amhran na bhFiann.
Soldiers are we
whose lives are pledged to Ireland;
Some have come
from a land beyond the wave.
Sworn to be free,
No more our ancient sire land
Shall shelter the despot or the slave.
Tonight we man the gap of danger
In Erin's cause, come woe or weal
'Mid cannons' roar and rifles peal,
We'll chant a soldier's song
A bhuion nach fann d'fhuil Ghaeil is Gall,
Sin breacadh lae na saoirse,
Ta sceimhle 's scanradh i gcroithe namhad,
Roimh ranna laochra ar dtire.
Ar dtinte is treith gan spreach anois,
Sin luisne ghle san speir anoir,
'S an biobha i raon na bpilear agaibh:
Seo libh, canaidh Amhran na bh Fiann.
Sons of the Gael! Men of the Pale!
The long watched day is breaking;
The serried ranks of Inisfail
Shall set the Tyrant quaking.
Our camp fires now are burning low;
See in the east a silv'ry glow,
Out yonder waits the Saxon foe,
So chant a soldier's song.
Sinne Firnna Fail
A ta fe gheall ag Eirinn,
buion dar slua
Thar toinn do rainig chugainn,
Fe mhoid bheith saor.
Sean tir ar sinsir feasta
Ni fhagfar fe'n tioran na fe'n trail
Anocht a theam sa bhearna bhaoil,
Le gean ar Ghaeil chun bais no saoil
Le guna screach fe lamhach na bpilear
Seo libh canaidh Amhran na bhFiann.
Soldiers are we
whose lives are pledged to Ireland;
Some have come
from a land beyond the wave.
Sworn to be free,
No more our ancient sire land
Shall shelter the despot or the slave.
Tonight we man the gap of danger
In Erin's cause, come woe or weal
'Mid cannons' roar and rifles peal,
We'll chant a soldier's song
This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman (I receive no compensation from any entry on this blog.)
Sunday, June 03, 2018
Now they are talking about Israeli citizenship rather than Russian.
Its founders (click here) didn't declare in 1948 that, 'The State of Israel is open for the ingathering of exiles and exiled murky money tax-evaders and sex offenders.' But that's what the Law of Return has facilitated.
30 January 2018
By Alec Luhn and Ben Riley-Smith
Chelsea (click here) owner Roman Abramovich has for the first time been included on a list of officials and oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin that could serve as a basis for future US sanctions.
Although Monday's “name-and-shame” list of 210 people does not stipulate any punitive measures, it was drawn up as part of sanctions legislation reluctantly signed by Donald Trump in August.
The US treasury department issued the document to congress, which is expected to push for further sanctions against Russia in the coming months. A classified annex to the list may include additional names and information....
August 18, 2017
By Stephanie Baker, Irina Reznik, and Katya Kazakina
As federal investigators probe possible Kremlin links (click here) with the Donald Trump campaign, one connection that hasn’t gotten much attention is that between Jared Kushner and one of Russia’s most powerful and influential billionaires: Roman Abramovich.
The men have met three to four times in social settings, and their wives have been friends for a decade, facts that Kushner and Ivanka Trump revealed on their security-clearance forms to join the White House staff, according to a person familiar with the filings. The form, SF-86, asks applicants whether they have had “close and/or continuing contact with a foreign national within the last seven years with whom you or your spouse or cohabitant are bound by affection, influence or common interests.”
In 2014, the Kushners spent four days in Russia at the invitation of Abramovich’s wife, Dasha Zhukova. The couples sat at the same table along with a few other people during a high-powered fundraising dinner for Moscow’s Jewish Museum. Kushner also was invested in an online art business of which Zhukova is a founding partner. Ivanka Trump, Kushner and his brother, Joshua, have accompanied Zhukova to sporting events in the New York area....
From Newsweek:
Janaury 30, 2018
By Christina Maza
Just before midnight Monday, the Treasury Department released an unclassified list of Russian oligarchs, influential politicians and business professionals who are close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and could be the target of future sanctions.
The new list has more than 200 individuals, including all senior members of the political administration at the Kremlin and every Russian oligarch with a net worth of $1 billion or more.
Some of the names on the list are well known to Westerners, like Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
German Klimenko, the director and owner of internet company LiveInternet. Klimenko is considered one of Putin’s top advisers on all things digital.
Yevgeny Kaspersky, a Russian cybersecurity expert and CEO of the IT company Kaspersky Lab.
There are no exceptions for length of friendship. Quite the contrary, Russians have great patience in planning assaults against democracy. Al Qaeda did the same thing. The pilots of 911 were in the USA for years before they acted.
The USA has many enemies from all over the world. Some are long time enemies while others are recruited. The latest methodology that was used to destabilize an enitire region of the world was that of Daesh. The influence of power brokers such as Daesh can never be respected as sovereign governments. Daesh was a coup, not a rise to power through politics and elections. However, such methods have to be sought out before they destablize. There were too many guns on the street in the Middle East and the rise of Deash was faciliatated by those guns and it's charasmatic movement carried it into international borders.
Today in Iraq a woman was sentenced to life in prison (click here) for simply stating she was a wife to a member of Daesh.That will continue forever, no different than anyone identifying remotely as a Nazi. Such notions should be held at arms length from policial parites and ridiculed from powerful postions in government.
30 January 2018
By Alec Luhn and Ben Riley-Smith
Chelsea (click here) owner Roman Abramovich has for the first time been included on a list of officials and oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin that could serve as a basis for future US sanctions.
Although Monday's “name-and-shame” list of 210 people does not stipulate any punitive measures, it was drawn up as part of sanctions legislation reluctantly signed by Donald Trump in August.
The US treasury department issued the document to congress, which is expected to push for further sanctions against Russia in the coming months. A classified annex to the list may include additional names and information....
August 18, 2017
By Stephanie Baker, Irina Reznik, and Katya Kazakina
As federal investigators probe possible Kremlin links (click here) with the Donald Trump campaign, one connection that hasn’t gotten much attention is that between Jared Kushner and one of Russia’s most powerful and influential billionaires: Roman Abramovich.
The men have met three to four times in social settings, and their wives have been friends for a decade, facts that Kushner and Ivanka Trump revealed on their security-clearance forms to join the White House staff, according to a person familiar with the filings. The form, SF-86, asks applicants whether they have had “close and/or continuing contact with a foreign national within the last seven years with whom you or your spouse or cohabitant are bound by affection, influence or common interests.”
In 2014, the Kushners spent four days in Russia at the invitation of Abramovich’s wife, Dasha Zhukova. The couples sat at the same table along with a few other people during a high-powered fundraising dinner for Moscow’s Jewish Museum. Kushner also was invested in an online art business of which Zhukova is a founding partner. Ivanka Trump, Kushner and his brother, Joshua, have accompanied Zhukova to sporting events in the New York area....
From Newsweek:
Janaury 30, 2018
By Christina Maza
Just before midnight Monday, the Treasury Department released an unclassified list of Russian oligarchs, influential politicians and business professionals who are close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and could be the target of future sanctions.
The new list has more than 200 individuals, including all senior members of the political administration at the Kremlin and every Russian oligarch with a net worth of $1 billion or more.
Some of the names on the list are well known to Westerners, like Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
German Klimenko, the director and owner of internet company LiveInternet. Klimenko is considered one of Putin’s top advisers on all things digital.
Yevgeny Kaspersky, a Russian cybersecurity expert and CEO of the IT company Kaspersky Lab.
There are no exceptions for length of friendship. Quite the contrary, Russians have great patience in planning assaults against democracy. Al Qaeda did the same thing. The pilots of 911 were in the USA for years before they acted.
The USA has many enemies from all over the world. Some are long time enemies while others are recruited. The latest methodology that was used to destabilize an enitire region of the world was that of Daesh. The influence of power brokers such as Daesh can never be respected as sovereign governments. Daesh was a coup, not a rise to power through politics and elections. However, such methods have to be sought out before they destablize. There were too many guns on the street in the Middle East and the rise of Deash was faciliatated by those guns and it's charasmatic movement carried it into international borders.
Today in Iraq a woman was sentenced to life in prison (click here) for simply stating she was a wife to a member of Daesh.That will continue forever, no different than anyone identifying remotely as a Nazi. Such notions should be held at arms length from policial parites and ridiculed from powerful postions in government.
Countries accumulate power over time which is why the Mueller investigation is vital to the USA sovereignty and national security. It is in no way a witch hunt.
Russian oligarchs with ties to Donald Trump campaign associates, Trump's family and Trump himself.
The heads of two Russian state gas and oil companies, Alexey Miller at Gazprom and Igor Sechin at Rosneft,...Steele alleges that former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page met with Sechin during a trip to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. Page later admitted to meeting with Rosneft representatives during the trip.
Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire and owner of the Chelsea Football Club
Billionaire Oleg Deripaska is also on the list. An aluminum magnate, he has sued former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates for over $25 million in damages for allegedly stealing $1.1 million from his company.
Manafort allegedly offered to provide Deripaska with personal briefings about the 2016 presidential campaign. The two men have business ties going back decades, despite the fact that Deripaska was repeatedly denied a U.S. visa due to alleged links with organized crime.
Dmitry Rybolovlev, the president of the Monaco football club, who paid Trump $95 million for a beachfront mansion in Florida in 2008. The price was more than double what Trump paid for the house four years earlier, and Rybolovlev had never visited the property before he bought it.
In 2016, during Trump's campaign for president, journalists investigated why Rybolovlev's and Trump's aircraft landed in the same cities within an hour of each other on three separate occasions. Trump claims that he never met Rybolovlev
The U.S. Treasury and the State Department are mandated by the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017, which passed in Congress last July, to complete the list. The CAATSA also ordered the Trump administration to sanction companies and individuals within Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors. The sanctions are meant to punish Russia for its interference in the 2016 presidential election, the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, interference in eastern Ukraine and ongoing human rights violations.
Early Monday, Trump declined to impose sanctions on companies and foreign countries doing business with Russian defense and intelligence entities blacklisted under CAATSA. He claimed that the legislation is already serving as a deterrent.
Saturday, June 02, 2018
RED ALERT: Nazi Candidate Doing Much Better Than Expected in California
Fight extremists at every turn, even if it seems a frivolous pursuit. A foothold is not acceptable in politics.
Improve your vocabulary. "Power" is not governance. Realize the difference. Thank you.
Improve your vocabulary. "Power" is not governance. Realize the difference. Thank you.
Friday, June 01, 2018
When is Snyder going to be arrested so everyone involved is charged and tried.
Will the avoidance of responsibility ever stop?
Look, Governor Snyder, announced his intention to run for re-election February 2014. While on the subject, get this, he has introduced the idea of eliminating term limits in Michigan:
June 1, 2018
By Emily Lawler
Mackinac Island -- Gov. Rick Snyder (click here) told MLive on Wednesday that he saw room for improvement to the state's term limits.
"The term limit question, what I've generally felt is they're not flexible enough," Snyder said in an interview with MLive at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference.
"You can argue, should there be term limits or not, but the six years in the House in particular is very constraining."...
...Snyder has hired several term-limited lawmakers into key positions. Former representative and House Appropriations Committee chair Al Pscholka now serves as his budget director, and former representative Earl Poleski heads up the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Former representative John Walsh serves as his Office of Strategic Policy director....
Now, I don't know about anyone else, regardless of Snyder talking about legislative term limits; if a bill ever passed the Michigan legislature to remove term limits or increase them; there would be a measure in there to increase the number of term limits a Governor could serve.
Governor Snyder, better than anyone else involved with the Flint Water Crisis, knows the sure way he can stave off any charges for the poisoning of the Flint water and the deaths (including miscarriages), illnesses (rashes and visits to the doctors') and permanent brain damage of children, is to remain Governor. So, here we are now with a gubernatorial election in November 2018 and Snyder is pandering to the legislature to increase or remove term limits.
Ready?
The Republican candidate right now, for Michigan Governor is Attorney General Bill Schuette. The Attorney General carrying out the investigations and prosecutions of the Flint Water Crisis. Do I hear a pardon coming on? A Democratic hopeful has already released his tax returns and what tax returns they are:
May 30, 2018
By Joel Kurth
Mackinac Island – Michigan Democratic (click here) gubernatorial candidate Shri Thanedar on Wednesday released his 2015 and 2016 tax returns and other financial details and says he plans to release his 2017 returns as soon as they are filed.
The disclosures show the Ann Arbor entrepreneur has assets of about $30 million, making him most likely the wealthiest candidate in the race for governor. Republican candidate Bill Schuette disclosed more than $13 million in assets last week.
The release followed requests Bridge Magazine made of all candidates for governor of their tax returns and other financial documents....
So, now that term limits are noted as a high priority for Governor Poison, let me start again.
Snyder was elected in November 2010, the year when all the Republican incompetents were elected.
February 3, 2016
By Josh Hakala
...According to Scorsone, (click here) Public Act 72 was rarely used in the approximately 20 years it was in effect through the administrations of Gov. John Engler and Gov. Jennifer Granholm. When Snyder took office, one of the first bills that he signed in 2011 was Public Act 4, which Scorsone says was a “beefed-up” emergency manager law.
Michigan voters rejected that law by referendum in 2012, (click here) only to see a new bill passed, PA 436, a month later. The new version made some changes to the original version, including requiring the state to pay the salary of the EM, rather than the cash-strapped local government they were appointed to rescue, and giving the local government the power to vote out the EM after 18 months. The most controversial change made to PA 436 was that it stipulated that the public could not repeal it.... That is probably unconstitutional, but, I don't recall it being challenged.
November 29, 2011 - After the city declared a state of financial emergency three weeks earlier, Governor Snyder appointed Michael Brown as the city's Emergency Manager on November 29, effective December 1.
March 22, 2012 – County officials announce plans for a new pipeline to reduce costs by delivering water from Lake Huron to Flint.
April 16, 2013 – The city approves the KWA contract.
April 17, 2013 - Detroit terminates its water service contract.
Governor Snyder announced his intention to run for re-election in February 2014.
April 21, 2014 – After construction delays, the water source switch to the Flint River is completed. This date is considered the start of the water crisis.
...Just months after the water source changed, hospitals (plural, not one hospital as a source as Snyder states, but, more than one) were reporting large numbers of people with Legionnaires' disease....
June 2014 - (click here) A spike in legionella bacteria in Flint's water was seen as early as June 2014, prosecutors showed on charts in court, two months after Flint switched its water source from Detroit water to the more-corrosive Flint River water.
An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (click here) that killed 12 people and sickened at least 87 in Flint, Mich., in 2014 and 2015 was caused by low chlorine levels in the municipal water system, scientists have confirmed. It's the most detailed evidence yet linking the bacterial disease to the city's broader water crisis....
October 2014 – Flint’s General Motors Flint Truck Assembly plant discontinues using Flint tap water due to corroding engine parts from high levels of chlorine
Why wasn't the detection and source of the Legionella bacteria more aggressive and conclusive one might ask? Because at this point no one had made a connection between the lead in the Flint Water. The connection between the lead in the water and the deaths from Legionnaires Disease would not be made until scientists from Virginia Tech began tracking the chemicals in Flint's water and reporting their findings in June of 2015.
Governor Rick Snyder shakes supporters hands while on stage with his wife Sue Snyder and his son Jeff Snyder following his victory speech after winning over opponent Mark Schauer in the Michigan gubernatorial race during the Michigan Republican Party Statewide Election Night party in the Renaissance Ballroom of The Detroit Marriott at The Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit on Tuesday November 4, 2014.
November 2014 Rick Snyder is re-elected to Michigan Governor. Now, ask if that would have happened if the Flint Water Crisis was known and the Legionella bacteria were linked to the lead in Flint's water. There were many reasons why the Governor did not want anyone to know Flint had a water crisis due to his Emergency Manager Law. YES, HIS EMERGENCY MANAGER LAW. HE ADVOCATED FOR IT, SAW IT THROUGH THE LEGISLATURE AND SIGNED. HE ALSO OVERRODE THE REPEAL BY THE ELECTORATE IN 2012. IT IS HIS EMERGENCY MANAGER LAW.
February 26, 2015 – EPA manager Miquel Del Toral detects that lead levels in the water at the home of Flint resident Lee-Anne Walters is seven times greater than the EPA's acceptable limit.
June 24, 2015 – EPA manager Miquel Del Toral states in a memo (to Snyder on all occasions) that Virginia Tech scientists, led by water expert Dr. Marc Edwards, found extremely high lead levels in four homes
Snyder and his administration (remember Snyder has ONE man overseeing all state agencies as a Regulation Czar; so he has complete control over the state agencies) and all his state agencies, including his emergency managers, never declared a water emergency even with people dying. What occurred instead was a complete denial by the Mayor of Flint (shown drinking Flint water in a public display to allay fears) and by the Snyder's Department of Environmental Quality.
July 13, 2015 - From Snyder's Department of Environmental Quality; “Anyone who is concerned about lead in the drinking water in Flint can relax.”
The US EPA along with Dr. Mark Edwards continues to demand action by the State of Michigan. Snyder's DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) states they are skeptical of Dr. Edwards findings.
The Snyder administration denial continues despite illness and deaths; until pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha reports many children from Flint, Michigan had high lead levels in their blood. The only thing the children had in common was the water.
About three weeks later Snyder finally signs a bill to provide $9.35 million to reconnect to the Detroit water supply and the connection is made the next day.
The reconnect occurred on September 25, 2015. There were 18 months of poisoned Flint River water provided as potable water by Snyder's administration. Eighteen months of denial regardless of the illness, complaints and deaths.
January 21, 2015 – Flint residents complain of health issues caused by city water. Residents bring bottles of discolored tap water to a community meeting
February 26, 2015 – EPA manager Miquel Del Toral detects that lead levels in the water at the home of Flint resident Lee-Anne Walters is seven times greater than the EPA's acceptable limit.
June 24, 2015 – EPA manager Miquel Del Toral states in a memo to the Michigan Governor that Virginia Tech scientists, led by water expert Dr. Marc Edwards, found extremely high lead levels in four homes.
In court testimony in 2017;
...what some of Gov. Rick Snyder’s staff knew (click here) about the Flint area Legionnaires’ disease outbreak and away from what their client knew....
... Harvey Hollins, the governor’s urban affairs czar, was caught off guard (while giving testimony) when...presented him with emails from Brad Wurfel, a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokesman, discussing Legionella in spring 2015. In response to the...question, Hollins said Lyon had nothing to do with the city of Flint’s switch to the corrosive Flint River that some experts link to the outbreak of Legionnaires’.
In the March 13, 2015, email, Brad Wurfel asked DEQ water quality director Liane Shekter-Smith and Drinking Water supervisor Stephen Busch to “try to keep formal written powder dry” until they could meet with Department of Community Health officials on a Legionella information request from the Genesee County Health Department....
...Hollins told Willey the governor’s staff in March 2015 wasn’t aware of the Legionnaires’ outbreak.
“No, it’s not fair to say that,” Hollins said. “I received information from a public information officer from DEQ. That tells me nothing. Even if I had the information, I’d still have to get the information from the department director. I was aware that his director was copied on an email that was sent to me.”
Hollins said he became aware that Brad Wurfel’s wife Sara Wurfel, then the governor’s spokeswoman, and Communications Director Jarrod Agen were blind copied on the email after reading media reports about the email. Agen went on to become Snyder’s chief of staff in January 2016 and is now working for Vice President Mike Pence.
Hollins said he did not tell concerned pastors about the Legionella issue in summer 2015 “because there was no conclusive evidence” but that “it was the department’s responsibility to follow up on this stuff.” But he admitted that there appeared to be more than 40 cases of Legionnaires’ at the time....
The first cases of illness were taking shape within months of the water change date of April 21, 2014. The illnesses started by June of 2014 and supposedly Snyder's inner cycle didn't know anything about it by the summer of 2015, but, there were more than 40 cases by then.
...The state didn’t warn the public about the outbreak until mid-January 2016.
Under questioning, Hollins spoke about his two summer 2015 meetings with Snyder and others state officials where he detailed how the city’s water was causing Flint residents to suffer rashes and mar baptismal tubs with brownish water. He testified that lead had become a major concern to residents amid a backdrop of several pictures presented in court by Special Prosecutor Todd Flood.
Hollins also testified that he told the governor about the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak about three weeks before the Republican leader revealed the problem to the public.
Hollins said he told Snyder about the Legionnaires’ outbreak on a Dec. 24, 2015 conference call. Snyder announced the the deadly form of pneumonia on Jan. 13, 2016 at a hastily arranged press conference in Detroit.
Hollins, who last month in court contradicted Snyder’s congressional testimony that he first learned about it in January 2016,...
Rick Snyder is guilty of withholding important facts and necessary changes in the Flint Water Crisis. He colluded to maintain a tight hold on information to the public before and after his 2014 election.
In trying to place blame on the local hospital of Flint, Rick Snyder is hiding the facts that the SOURCE of the Legionnaires Disease was known by a Virginia Tech scientist in June of 2014. The usual cause of any Legionella outbreak is stagnant water. If the Flint hospital or any other hospital involved was trying to obtain information of where the stagnant water could be found; they would be thwarted by the fact, the water was not stagnant, but, instead not buffered to prevent corrosion with now high levels of lead that GAVE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE INCREASED LEVELS OF LEGIONELLA BACTERIA TO GROW OUT OF CONTROL.
Governor Snyder knew before his staff knew about the many crises in Flint. Since June of 2014 Snyder was receiving memos from the USA EPA in cooperation with a Virginia Tech scientist who had conducted conclusive studies about the lead AND OTHER heavy metals in the water in Flint.
Snyder deliberately concealed the crisis until after his election and even then was reluctant to act to assist the citizens of Flint. See, his ideology got in the way. As a Republican, he was going to eliminate regulations and make every Michigan city profitable. It was his politics that created the dilemma for the people of Flint that was suffering at the deliberate negligence of their state's governor.
May 30, 2018
...Rather than taking responsibility, (click here) the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is now pinning these deaths on a local Flint hospital—just as the court trial against some of the department’s top execs is nearing the end.
You see, Attorney General Bill Schuette launched a case in 2016 against those who contributed to the water crisis that exposed a city of nearly 100,000 to severe levels of lead in their drinking water. Some of the biggest names include Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells and health department Director Nick Lyons, both of whom face involuntary manslaughter charges for the deaths from Legionnaires disease, an extreme form of pneumonia. The pair of studies found that the Legionella bacteria that cause the disease likely grew from a lack of chlorine in the water.
But apparently, the state department has found that the McLaren Flint Hospital was the “only one common [exposure] source” in its assessment of the Legionnaires outbreak. The department also tried to argue that the number of cases of Legionnaires has increased nationwide, and that these deaths were basically in line with the national trend....
Look, Governor Snyder, announced his intention to run for re-election February 2014. While on the subject, get this, he has introduced the idea of eliminating term limits in Michigan:
June 1, 2018
By Emily Lawler
Mackinac Island -- Gov. Rick Snyder (click here) told MLive on Wednesday that he saw room for improvement to the state's term limits.
"The term limit question, what I've generally felt is they're not flexible enough," Snyder said in an interview with MLive at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference.
"You can argue, should there be term limits or not, but the six years in the House in particular is very constraining."...
...Snyder has hired several term-limited lawmakers into key positions. Former representative and House Appropriations Committee chair Al Pscholka now serves as his budget director, and former representative Earl Poleski heads up the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Former representative John Walsh serves as his Office of Strategic Policy director....
Now, I don't know about anyone else, regardless of Snyder talking about legislative term limits; if a bill ever passed the Michigan legislature to remove term limits or increase them; there would be a measure in there to increase the number of term limits a Governor could serve.
Governor Snyder, better than anyone else involved with the Flint Water Crisis, knows the sure way he can stave off any charges for the poisoning of the Flint water and the deaths (including miscarriages), illnesses (rashes and visits to the doctors') and permanent brain damage of children, is to remain Governor. So, here we are now with a gubernatorial election in November 2018 and Snyder is pandering to the legislature to increase or remove term limits.
Ready?
The Republican candidate right now, for Michigan Governor is Attorney General Bill Schuette. The Attorney General carrying out the investigations and prosecutions of the Flint Water Crisis. Do I hear a pardon coming on? A Democratic hopeful has already released his tax returns and what tax returns they are:
May 30, 2018
By Joel Kurth
Mackinac Island – Michigan Democratic (click here) gubernatorial candidate Shri Thanedar on Wednesday released his 2015 and 2016 tax returns and other financial details and says he plans to release his 2017 returns as soon as they are filed.
The disclosures show the Ann Arbor entrepreneur has assets of about $30 million, making him most likely the wealthiest candidate in the race for governor. Republican candidate Bill Schuette disclosed more than $13 million in assets last week.
The release followed requests Bridge Magazine made of all candidates for governor of their tax returns and other financial documents....
So, now that term limits are noted as a high priority for Governor Poison, let me start again.
Snyder was elected in November 2010, the year when all the Republican incompetents were elected.
February 3, 2016
By Josh Hakala
...According to Scorsone, (click here) Public Act 72 was rarely used in the approximately 20 years it was in effect through the administrations of Gov. John Engler and Gov. Jennifer Granholm. When Snyder took office, one of the first bills that he signed in 2011 was Public Act 4, which Scorsone says was a “beefed-up” emergency manager law.
Michigan voters rejected that law by referendum in 2012, (click here) only to see a new bill passed, PA 436, a month later. The new version made some changes to the original version, including requiring the state to pay the salary of the EM, rather than the cash-strapped local government they were appointed to rescue, and giving the local government the power to vote out the EM after 18 months. The most controversial change made to PA 436 was that it stipulated that the public could not repeal it.... That is probably unconstitutional, but, I don't recall it being challenged.
November 29, 2011 - After the city declared a state of financial emergency three weeks earlier, Governor Snyder appointed Michael Brown as the city's Emergency Manager on November 29, effective December 1.
March 22, 2012 – County officials announce plans for a new pipeline to reduce costs by delivering water from Lake Huron to Flint.
April 16, 2013 – The city approves the KWA contract.
April 17, 2013 - Detroit terminates its water service contract.
Governor Snyder announced his intention to run for re-election in February 2014.
April 21, 2014 – After construction delays, the water source switch to the Flint River is completed. This date is considered the start of the water crisis.
...Just months after the water source changed, hospitals (plural, not one hospital as a source as Snyder states, but, more than one) were reporting large numbers of people with Legionnaires' disease....
An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (click here) that killed 12 people and sickened at least 87 in Flint, Mich., in 2014 and 2015 was caused by low chlorine levels in the municipal water system, scientists have confirmed. It's the most detailed evidence yet linking the bacterial disease to the city's broader water crisis....
October 2014 – Flint’s General Motors Flint Truck Assembly plant discontinues using Flint tap water due to corroding engine parts from high levels of chlorine
Why wasn't the detection and source of the Legionella bacteria more aggressive and conclusive one might ask? Because at this point no one had made a connection between the lead in the Flint Water. The connection between the lead in the water and the deaths from Legionnaires Disease would not be made until scientists from Virginia Tech began tracking the chemicals in Flint's water and reporting their findings in June of 2015.
Governor Rick Snyder shakes supporters hands while on stage with his wife Sue Snyder and his son Jeff Snyder following his victory speech after winning over opponent Mark Schauer in the Michigan gubernatorial race during the Michigan Republican Party Statewide Election Night party in the Renaissance Ballroom of The Detroit Marriott at The Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit on Tuesday November 4, 2014.
November 2014 Rick Snyder is re-elected to Michigan Governor. Now, ask if that would have happened if the Flint Water Crisis was known and the Legionella bacteria were linked to the lead in Flint's water. There were many reasons why the Governor did not want anyone to know Flint had a water crisis due to his Emergency Manager Law. YES, HIS EMERGENCY MANAGER LAW. HE ADVOCATED FOR IT, SAW IT THROUGH THE LEGISLATURE AND SIGNED. HE ALSO OVERRODE THE REPEAL BY THE ELECTORATE IN 2012. IT IS HIS EMERGENCY MANAGER LAW.
February 26, 2015 – EPA manager Miquel Del Toral detects that lead levels in the water at the home of Flint resident Lee-Anne Walters is seven times greater than the EPA's acceptable limit.
June 24, 2015 – EPA manager Miquel Del Toral states in a memo (to Snyder on all occasions) that Virginia Tech scientists, led by water expert Dr. Marc Edwards, found extremely high lead levels in four homes
Snyder and his administration (remember Snyder has ONE man overseeing all state agencies as a Regulation Czar; so he has complete control over the state agencies) and all his state agencies, including his emergency managers, never declared a water emergency even with people dying. What occurred instead was a complete denial by the Mayor of Flint (shown drinking Flint water in a public display to allay fears) and by the Snyder's Department of Environmental Quality.
July 13, 2015 - From Snyder's Department of Environmental Quality; “Anyone who is concerned about lead in the drinking water in Flint can relax.”
The US EPA along with Dr. Mark Edwards continues to demand action by the State of Michigan. Snyder's DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) states they are skeptical of Dr. Edwards findings.
The Snyder administration denial continues despite illness and deaths; until pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha reports many children from Flint, Michigan had high lead levels in their blood. The only thing the children had in common was the water.
About three weeks later Snyder finally signs a bill to provide $9.35 million to reconnect to the Detroit water supply and the connection is made the next day.
The reconnect occurred on September 25, 2015. There were 18 months of poisoned Flint River water provided as potable water by Snyder's administration. Eighteen months of denial regardless of the illness, complaints and deaths.
January 21, 2015 – Flint residents complain of health issues caused by city water. Residents bring bottles of discolored tap water to a community meeting
February 26, 2015 – EPA manager Miquel Del Toral detects that lead levels in the water at the home of Flint resident Lee-Anne Walters is seven times greater than the EPA's acceptable limit.
June 24, 2015 – EPA manager Miquel Del Toral states in a memo to the Michigan Governor that Virginia Tech scientists, led by water expert Dr. Marc Edwards, found extremely high lead levels in four homes.
In court testimony in 2017;
...what some of Gov. Rick Snyder’s staff knew (click here) about the Flint area Legionnaires’ disease outbreak and away from what their client knew....
... Harvey Hollins, the governor’s urban affairs czar, was caught off guard (while giving testimony) when...presented him with emails from Brad Wurfel, a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokesman, discussing Legionella in spring 2015. In response to the...question, Hollins said Lyon had nothing to do with the city of Flint’s switch to the corrosive Flint River that some experts link to the outbreak of Legionnaires’.
In the March 13, 2015, email, Brad Wurfel asked DEQ water quality director Liane Shekter-Smith and Drinking Water supervisor Stephen Busch to “try to keep formal written powder dry” until they could meet with Department of Community Health officials on a Legionella information request from the Genesee County Health Department....
...Hollins told Willey the governor’s staff in March 2015 wasn’t aware of the Legionnaires’ outbreak.
“No, it’s not fair to say that,” Hollins said. “I received information from a public information officer from DEQ. That tells me nothing. Even if I had the information, I’d still have to get the information from the department director. I was aware that his director was copied on an email that was sent to me.”
Hollins said he became aware that Brad Wurfel’s wife Sara Wurfel, then the governor’s spokeswoman, and Communications Director Jarrod Agen were blind copied on the email after reading media reports about the email. Agen went on to become Snyder’s chief of staff in January 2016 and is now working for Vice President Mike Pence.
Hollins said he did not tell concerned pastors about the Legionella issue in summer 2015 “because there was no conclusive evidence” but that “it was the department’s responsibility to follow up on this stuff.” But he admitted that there appeared to be more than 40 cases of Legionnaires’ at the time....
The first cases of illness were taking shape within months of the water change date of April 21, 2014. The illnesses started by June of 2014 and supposedly Snyder's inner cycle didn't know anything about it by the summer of 2015, but, there were more than 40 cases by then.
...The state didn’t warn the public about the outbreak until mid-January 2016.
Under questioning, Hollins spoke about his two summer 2015 meetings with Snyder and others state officials where he detailed how the city’s water was causing Flint residents to suffer rashes and mar baptismal tubs with brownish water. He testified that lead had become a major concern to residents amid a backdrop of several pictures presented in court by Special Prosecutor Todd Flood.
Hollins also testified that he told the governor about the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak about three weeks before the Republican leader revealed the problem to the public.
Hollins said he told Snyder about the Legionnaires’ outbreak on a Dec. 24, 2015 conference call. Snyder announced the the deadly form of pneumonia on Jan. 13, 2016 at a hastily arranged press conference in Detroit.
Hollins, who last month in court contradicted Snyder’s congressional testimony that he first learned about it in January 2016,...
Rick Snyder is guilty of withholding important facts and necessary changes in the Flint Water Crisis. He colluded to maintain a tight hold on information to the public before and after his 2014 election.
In trying to place blame on the local hospital of Flint, Rick Snyder is hiding the facts that the SOURCE of the Legionnaires Disease was known by a Virginia Tech scientist in June of 2014. The usual cause of any Legionella outbreak is stagnant water. If the Flint hospital or any other hospital involved was trying to obtain information of where the stagnant water could be found; they would be thwarted by the fact, the water was not stagnant, but, instead not buffered to prevent corrosion with now high levels of lead that GAVE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE INCREASED LEVELS OF LEGIONELLA BACTERIA TO GROW OUT OF CONTROL.
Governor Snyder knew before his staff knew about the many crises in Flint. Since June of 2014 Snyder was receiving memos from the USA EPA in cooperation with a Virginia Tech scientist who had conducted conclusive studies about the lead AND OTHER heavy metals in the water in Flint.
Snyder deliberately concealed the crisis until after his election and even then was reluctant to act to assist the citizens of Flint. See, his ideology got in the way. As a Republican, he was going to eliminate regulations and make every Michigan city profitable. It was his politics that created the dilemma for the people of Flint that was suffering at the deliberate negligence of their state's governor.
May 30, 2018
...Rather than taking responsibility, (click here) the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is now pinning these deaths on a local Flint hospital—just as the court trial against some of the department’s top execs is nearing the end.
You see, Attorney General Bill Schuette launched a case in 2016 against those who contributed to the water crisis that exposed a city of nearly 100,000 to severe levels of lead in their drinking water. Some of the biggest names include Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells and health department Director Nick Lyons, both of whom face involuntary manslaughter charges for the deaths from Legionnaires disease, an extreme form of pneumonia. The pair of studies found that the Legionella bacteria that cause the disease likely grew from a lack of chlorine in the water.
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You see, Attorney General Bill Schuette launched a case in 2016 against those who contributed to the water crisis that exposed a city of nearly 100,000 to severe levels of lead in their drinking water. Some of the biggest names include Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells and health department Director Nick Lyons, both of whom face involuntary manslaughter charges for the deaths from Legionnaires disease, an extreme form of pneumonia. The pair of studies found that the Legionella bacteria that cause the disease likely grew from a lack of chlorine in the water.
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