Trump's Plan to Randomly Shoot People Lacks Details, Random Shooters Say

Donald Trump. (photo: AP)

By Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker

25 January 16

 
ne day after Donald Trump claimed that he could shoot people on New York’s Fifth Avenue and not lose support, a leading member of the random-shooting community complained that the billionaire’s random-shooting plan lacks specifics.

Harland Dorrinson, who heads the largest association of random shooters in the nation, said that Trump’s Fifth Avenue plan “lacked many of the key ingredients necessary for a credible random shooting.”

“There’s no weapons cache, no twisted manifesto to be found later by authorities,” Dorrinson said. “To anyone in the random-shooting world, Trump’s plan fails on so many levels.”

Moreover, he said, Trump has not put in the many years of solitary seething that most random shooters deem mandatory.

“Before you do a random shooting, you’re supposed to be quiet and keep to yourself,” he said. “Trump is always shouting at thousands of people.”

Dorrinson added that although many random shooters have been in the Trump camp thus far, the candidate’s vague random-shooting “plan” is now giving them pause.

“Donald Trump made it sound like a random shooting is just the easiest thing in the world,” he said. “At the end of the day, random shooters find that hurtful.”

Conservatives, A Vote for Trump Proves Everything Liberals Say About You

January 29, 2016

Bill Scher
Campaign for America's Future
ourfuture.org


Vote for Trump confirms liberal stereotype of conservatives as racists

Politico Magazine asked me and 11 others if Trump has “killed the GOP.” My answer? Not yet:

Before the Republican establishment concludes that its party is being consumed by a hostile takeover, it should first let its people cast some votes. So many conclusions are being prematurely drawn based on poll numbers. Poll numbers are very sensitive to media coverage, and we’ve never had a media huckster par excellence run for president before. Sure, Donald Trump can goose poll numbers by dominating news cycles through outrageous antics. But we don’t know if that actually translates into votes, especially when there isn’t much evidence of a robust get-out-the-vote operation.

Even adding the Trump and Cruz poll numbers together, to conclude that the conservative populist wing is larger than the establishment-friendly wing is a dangerous assumption. With Trump and Cruz running scorched-earth ads against each other, there is no guarantee that one camp’s supporters will easily migrate to the other.

At the moment, both wings of the party are divided. If Trump and Cruz stay divided, the establishment will be perfectly capable of reasserting control over the process by consolidating support around the mainstream candidate that performs best in the first few contests.

My suspicion is that Trump’s poll numbers will prove to be inflated. The Iowa caucus is the first test of that theory, though it is a flawed one.

Rick Santorum won the 2012 caucuses with 29,839 votes. Mike Huckabee won in 2008 with 40,954. Neither got very far after that. Small numbers of people on the ideological fringe have dominated the low turnout affair. It would not be fair to judge the entire Republican Party and conservative movement to be out to lunch based on that one contest. But the contest could set the tone for future primaries.

A Trump victory would be an early indicator of mass insanity in the Republican Party.

As extreme as Santorum and Huckabee were, both at least had the basic qualifications for national office, with long stints as senator and governor respectively. Trump not only lacks governing experience, he also lacks substantive policy ideas, even going out of his way to argue that policy details are superfluous.

Instead, Trump runs on demagoguery and hate. He has not only maligned Islam, but other Christian denominations (remember his swipe against Ben Carson: “I’m Presbyterian. Boy, that’s down the middle of the road, folks, in all fairness. I mean, Seventh-day Adventist I don’t know about.”) He made excuses for supporters who beat up and urinated on a Latino homeless man. He mocks the disabled.

For Trump to win with Iowa’s social conservatives, despite his recent pro-choice past, would send the message loud and clear how much hate is boiling inside the conservative heart.

Most conservatives take umbrage when liberals use a broad brush to paint them as bigoted neanderthals. But there’s only one way to neutralize that line of attack: Don’t act like and don’t associate with bigoted neanderthals.

A vote for Trump is to confirm the liberal stereotype of conservatives as racists. You have plenty of conservative options whose campaigns are not completely based on hate. You have an opportunity to take control of your party’s image.

Perhaps you are inclined to vote to Trump because that feels like a grand rebuke to the Republican Establishment and “politically correct” liberals. But to have the last laugh, you can’t prove us liberals correct. You need to prove us wrong.

My Response to Bernie Skeptics

Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

26 January 16
readersupportednews.org

 
ix Responses to Bernie Skeptics:

1. “He’d never beat Trump or Cruz in a general election.” Wrong. According to the latest polls, Bernie is the strongest Democratic candidate in the general election, defeating both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in hypothetical matchups. (The latest Real Clear Politics averages of all polls shows Bernie beating Trump by a larger margin than Hillary beats Trump, and Bernie beating Cruz while Hillary loses to Cruz.)
   
2. “He couldn’t get any of his ideas implemented because Congress would reject them.” If both house of Congress remain in Republican hands, no Democrat will be able to get much legislation through Congress, and will have to rely instead on executive orders and regulations. But there’s a higher likelihood of kicking Republicans out if Bernie’s “political revolution” continues to surge around America, bringing with it millions of young people and other voters, and keeping them politically engaged.
   
3. “America would never elect a socialist.”
   P-l-e-a-s-e. America’s most successful and beloved government programs are social insurance – Social Security and Medicare. A highway is a shared social expenditure, as is the military and public parks and schools. The problem is we now have excessive socialism for the rich (bailouts of Wall Street, subsidies for Big Ag and Big Pharma, monopolization by cable companies and giant health insurers, giant tax-deductible CEO pay packages) – all of which Bernie wants to end or prevent.
4. “His single-payer healthcare proposal would cost so much it would require raising taxes on the middle class.”
   This is a duplicitous argument. Single-payer systems in other rich nations have proven cheaper than private for-profit health insurers because they don’t spend huge sums on advertising, marketing, executive pay, and billing. So even if the Sanders single-payer plan did require some higher taxes, Americans would come out way ahead because they’d save far more than that on health insurance.
5. “His plan for paying for college with a tax on Wall Street trades would mean colleges would run by government rules.”
   Baloney. Three-quarters of college students today already attend public universities financed largely by state governments, and they’re not run by government rules. The real problem is too many young people still can’t afford a college education. The move toward free public higher education that began in the 1950s with the G.I. Bill and extended into the 1960s came to an abrupt stop in the 1980s. We must restart it.
6. “He’s too old.”
   Untrue. He’s in great health. Have you seen how agile and forceful he is as he campaigns around the country? These days, 70s are the new 60s. (He’s younger than four of the nine Supreme Court justices.) In any event, the issue isn't age; it's having the right values. FDR was paralyzed and JFK had Crohn's disease, but they were great presidents because they stood forcefully for the right things.

What do you think?

 Comments

+104 # tswhiskers 2016-01-16 16:07

Thanks so much, Dr. Reich for your supportive article. Thankfully the media have stopped talking of Clinton as she is if she is the shoo-in candidate. Finally he is getting the serious notice he deserves from media and politicians alike. I have been concerned about his health and stamina; no one enters the presidency anymore without aging noticeably. So thanks for no. 6. I've said in another blog that I think the Reps. will try to make serious hay of his socialist title. You say in no. 3 that the rich have excessive socialism, which is true. We'll see how the Reps. use this socialist moniker against him.

+25 # lorenbliss 2016-01-17 01:53

Hear, hear on every count, especially including the (well-deserved) compliment to Mr. Reich.

+109 # MarianP 2016-01-16 17:17

You might add, he is firm and tough but he has a sense of humor, is humane, and compassionate.

I think he would make a great President.

+79 # Moxa 2016-01-16 22:25

Thank you, Robert Reich, for calling out some of the most common erroneous beliefs about Bernie's electability and policy proposals. It is reassuring to realize there are sane voices in the media that are seeing things clearly and honestly. Bernie is likely the best national candidate I have known in my 68 years of life. I believe he is a test of the American people: will we realize the opportunity we have been offered, or will we--through force of habit and negativity--be dragged back into the mire of corruption that America has become?

+2 # DrD 2016-01-17 08:39

Yes- thank you Robert!! I am sure that as a former Clinton cabinet member, you are under considerable pressure to support Hillary. Thank you for bringing up relevant points in support of Bernie!

And about the age- issue - Trump is 69 and Hillary 68. Not a huge difference.

-55 # Shades of gray matter 2016-01-16 23:12

There is, like, absolutely no evidence whatsoever that, like, young Americans will, like, do anything but exchange narcissistic selfies while, like, driving, once the primary or general election is over. There is NOTHING out there like the Civil Rights Movement or the anti-war movement. People who can't be bothered to vote in midterm elections aren't going to, like, make a Revolution. I wish it were otherwise.

+54 # grandlakeguy 2016-01-16 23:30

Dear "Shades" you like are like clueless about what like is like going on here.
This is a political revolution since most Americans are sick and tired of the corrupt and rigged system that has taken over our government. Bernie gives us a real choice, not a pick between the lesser of two evils of two candidates one a Republican and the other a Republican pretending to be a Democrat but still beholden to Wall Street and the Military Industrial complex.
GO BERNIE!!!!!

-13 # NRESQ 2016-01-17 01:52

Shades is "clueless"? Maybe if you took half a second you might realize that your condescension towards your fellow Democrats who have concerns about the realities of your so-called "revolution" is itself clueless.

If nothing else, do you folks think you can win either the nomination or the election without Democrats who don't exactly see things your way?

Be careful how you respond to those in your own party who disagree with you. You may find you can't win without us. Just as we can't win without you.

So stop sounding like intolerant conservatives when someone disagrees with you.

-13 # Farafalla 2016-01-16 23:38

Shades of grey: Some piss and vinegar there.

+18 # tm7devils 2016-01-16 23:50

Please...don't give piss and vinegar a bad name.

-22 # NRESQ 2016-01-17 01:29

There's an old political saying that goes something like, if your plan is "We'll win because we'll turn out all these people who don't usually vote", you'll lose.

Dr. Reich's responses are simplistic and ignore political reality. For example, where the polls are in January doesn't matter. Howard Dean was ahead at this point in the cycle in 2008.

Also, national polls don't matter. POTUS is elected state by state through the electoral college. How many of the Obama coalition states would Sen. Sanders hold, and could he carry Ohio and Florida?

Are we prepared to squander all of the gains we've made in the last 8 years if we lose the presidency in 2016? Are we prepared to lose the SCOTUS for a generation? To see a woman's right to choose taken away?

The stakes are the highest they've ever been. Do we want to risk everything on a senator from a tiny northeastern state who wasn't even a member of the Democratic Party until recently?

Two words: George McGovern.

+22 # lorenbliss 2016-01-17 02:11

"All of the gains we've made in the last 8 years"?

What planet are you from? More appropriately, in what gated compound do you live? Where on Wall Street do you work? In what country club do you celebrate these "gains"? And do you even care what your "gains" have stolen from the rest of us?

+2 # SusanT136 2016-01-17 08:26

NRESQ - I realize you are highly concerned about the SCOTUS nominations, and rightly so.

However -
1) There is no more "Obama coalition". Repub. swept Congress the last couple of elections
2) On what are you basing your assumption that HRC is definitely going to win in a general election? HRC has a quite high negative number nationally in terms of how people view her. I am extremely concerned about how this could effect a general election, with many independents simply voting against her rather than for someone.
3) Bernie is not Howard Dean. There will be no crazy scream like the one that undid Dean. Bernie knows how to carry himself with dignity.
4) Bernie is not George McGovern, and this is not 1972. McGovern was opposed by union leaders, who, at the time, opposed his anti-Vietnam war stance. Bernie is assembling a wide coalition of supporters and endorsements. McGovern also suffered from the "scandal" surrounding Eagleton, his VP choice, when it was revealed Eagleton had received electro-shock therapy for depression (which he had not told the campaign).

+3 # mebemo 2016-01-17 08:28

"Two words: George McGovern."

Predictions are pointless at this stage, no matter how much people get off on making them.

A more interesting thought is, do you want your thinking to be governed by fear instead of love? George McGovern (for whom I actively campaigned and voted) was ahead of his time. Since then the public has "evolved" enough to elect a black man President, twice. Who's to say how else we may have developed?

0 # SusanT136 2016-01-17 08:09

The Civil Rights Movement and anti-war movements had to start somewhere. This is a beginning, a stronger and better beginning than we have seen in decades. I agree that our complacent, materialistic culture has corrupted both young and old, but the issues of racial justice, student loans and jobs might just be gritty enough to radicalize some formerly self absorbed youth.

+2 # DrD 2016-01-17 08:47

Shades, I've read quite a few similar posts from you- I'm wondering about your motives. Are you a Hillary supporter? Then please share your thoughts as to why. Are you specifically antiBernie? Again, please say why. Are you against all young people for some reason? Your tone is so dismissive of them - yes they don't talk, interact or even participate in a revolution they way young people did in the 60's, but that doesn't mean we should discount them in my opinion. Scary as it may be, this election is riding on them so I'm doing my part to interact, register, and educate this age group to support Bernie. What are you doing?

+37 # vicnada 2016-01-16 23:29

I wish I had this list of articulate responses printed as handout for one retiree I met today on my sub-zero stump for Bernie in South Minneapolis. He was so disillusioned with the let-down of the past 8 years that he was considering not voting for the first time in his life.

I sympathized with him: I had hoped for more change, too, but because I have teenagers, I can't afford to give up or, worse, go cynical. Feeling challenged, he roused himself to run down some objections presented here.

His most strenuous objection was number two above: the established interests have taken such complete hold that it is futile to even hope. "Even if Bernie were to be elected, how would he get any of his good ideas implemented given such entrenched interests?"

"Revolution" got a tired laugh. The conversation ended. The door closed. Again, sub-zero at the bone.

Judging from my view from the stoop, things are worse now--lots worse--than I have ever seen. Yes, a five-year, recession-induc ed divorce has left me adrift in more ways than one. But the brief glimpse through doors into the struggles people are currently facing is a sure cure for self-pity. Many are losing heart, losing their courage for destiny.

+17 # lorenbliss 2016-01-17 01:50

The emotional state of the nation is the equivalent of the financial condition reported in another story on this edition of RSN: "...56 percent of Americans said they have less than $1,000...Nearly a quarter (24.8 percent) have less than $100 to their name."

In a year denied a Social Security COLA, and with the Washington state Democrats' abolition of the low-income telephone subsidy and their savage cuts in food stamps and Medicare subsidies, I have $155 less this year than last. Thus I am in the "less than $100" category -- where I will probably remain for the rest of my life.

And I expect no better. The decades since 22 November 1963, and most especially the last eight years, have shown me the true evil of capitalism, of capitalist governance and of those who rule this murderous nation whose constitution I once vowed to defend with my life but whose flag I will never again willingly salute.

So I understand and empathize with the despair and bitterness of which vicnada writes. It is the despair Mr. Reich described in point 2; it is my own despair; its is the despair of my elderly and disabled neighbors; it is the despair that will keep many of us -- hitherto the most likely voters -- from voting in November; and it is a despair for which there may be no antidote.

Why vote if -- no matter for whom you vote -- all you get is genocidal austerity?

Nevertheless I will vote for Sanders -- for sometimes even a merely symbolic victory will spark a revolution.

Is Roundup telling all about 4-year university?

(Recent information received from several sources by the Gazette Blog suggest that there is a lot more to the 4-year university story than the Payson Roundup is reporting.  The following from Rim Country resident Don Evans also suggests possible conflicts of interest.  Anybody with corroborating information is welcome to submit it to peoplesgazette@gmail.com)

Read the below post before it is removed from the Roundup Blog/Community Discussions:

FYI- A different article comment post of mine under the Jan 26 charter school article "Brand New Buildings, Cheerful Children Roundup reporter tours American Leadership Academy’s brand new school in Queen Creek" was deleted by John Naughton for being in very poor taste? Of course Mr. Naughton the publisher, may do as he wishes with his newspaper.  He never mentions publicly that he is an active board member of the MHD Foundation. He serves along with Mayor Kenny Evans and Councilwoman Sue Connell. This board is the  current primary proponent, planning, and funding source for the proposed University project and supporting the ALA Charter School Plan. All the other alphabet soup boards are subordinate to this one.

Ref: Roundup News article Tuesday, Jan 26 2016

Educational Alliance Answers Questions About University Site

Posted under Roundup Blog Community Discussions

Well, it's about time the private cabal and nexus of special RCEA, RCEA, and MHA board members came out from under their desks. Most of us must have missed all the so called public forums on the University project? They inform you what they are going to do, but you have no say in it. Shielding Payson Taxpayers, now that's a hoot. Who do you think is going to get the bill for what Mr. White has stated. (article comments section) New roads, existing road expansion, traffic, water and delivery system, increased Police, Fire, Medical services, road maintenance, etc? Yeah right, the University private spin off business's will fund all of it. The Payson Mayor is a voting board member on the MHA Foundation, a University project funding source. Payson Councilwoman Connell, appointed by the Mayor to serve on the same MHA Board and the RCEA Board. And they will be having to vote on University/Charter school Plans and private business development requests (zoning/permits) in their official Town Government positions? Then there are the two RCEA board members who are not even Payson residents, voting and making decisions on what is best for Payson and what it's priorities should be??? You know, things like infrastructure needs, future Payson commercial business developments, Payson Town Service increase needs. Why do they have any say on what occurs within our Town limits? Can you say Star Valley wants a piece of the action? My opinion.

Don Evans

Do Not Send Us Bottles of Water. Instead, Join Us in a Revolt

Above: Gazette Editor Jim Keyworth was born and raised in Flint.  This photo with his late father was taken several years ago in front of the sign that frequently appears in media coverage of that town's water crisis.
Below: Flint resident and award-winning film director Michael Moore. (photo: Robin Marchant/Getty)

By Michael Moore, Michael Moore's Website

27 January 16
readersupportednews.org

 
any of you have contacted me wanting to know how you can help the people of Flint with the two-year long tragedy of drinking water contaminated by the radical decisions made by the Governor of Michigan. The offer is much appreciated by those who are suffering through this and who have not drank a glass of unpoisoned water since April of 2014.

Unfortunately, the honest answer to your offer of help is, sadly, you can’t.

You can't help.

The reason you can’t help is that you cannot reverse the irreversible brain damage that has been inflicted upon every single child in Flint. The damage is permanent. There is no medicine you can send, no doctor or scientist who has any way to undo the harm done to thousands of babies, toddlers and children (not to mention their parents). They are ruined for life, and someone needs to tell you the truth about that.

They will, forever, suffer from various neurological impediments, their IQs will be lowered by at least 20 points, they will not do as well in school and, by the time they reach adolescence, they will exhibit various behavioral problems that will land a number of them in trouble, and some of them in jail.

That is what we know about the history of lead poisoning when you inflict it upon a child. It is a life sentence. In Flint, they’ve already ingested it for these two years, and the toll has already been taken on their developing brains. No check you write, no truckloads of Fiji Water or Poland Spring, will bring their innocence or their health back to normal. It’s done. And it was done knowingly, enacted by a political decision from a Governor and a political party charged by the majority of Michigan’s citizens who elected them to cut taxes for the rich, take over majority-black cities by replacing the elected mayors and city councils, cut costs, cut services, cut more taxes for the rich, increase taxes on retired teachers and public employees and, ultimately, try to decimate their one line of defense against all this, this thing we used to call a union.

The amount of generosity since the national media finally started to cover this story has been tremendous. Pearl Jam sent 100,000 bottles of water. The next day the Detroit Lions showed up with a truck and 100,000 bottles of water. Yesterday, Puff Daddy and Mark Wahlberg donated 1,000,000 bottles of water! Unbelievably amazing.

They acknowledged it’s a very short-term fix, and that it is. Flint has 102,000 residents, each in need of an average of 50 gallons of water a day for cooking, bathing, washing clothes, doing the dishes, and drinking (I’m not counting toilet flushes, watering plants or washing the car). But 100,000 bottles of water is enough for just one bottle per person – in other words, just enough to cover brushing one’s teeth for one day. You would have to send 200 bottles a day, per person, to cover what the average American (we are Americans in Flint) needs each day. That’s 102,000 citizens times 200 bottles of water – which equals 20.4 million 16oz. bottles of water per day, every day, for the next year or two until this problem is fixed (oh, and we’ll need to find a landfill in Flint big enough for all those hundreds of millions of plastic water bottles, thus degrading the local environment even further). Anybody want to pony up for that? Because THAT is the reality.

This is a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. There is not a terrorist organization on Earth that has yet to figure out how to poison 100,000 people every day for two years – and get away with it. That took a Governor who subscribes to an American political ideology hell-bent on widening the income inequality gap and conducting various versions of voter and electoral suppression against people of color and the poor. It was those actions that led Michigan’s Republican Governor to try out his economic and racial experiment in Flint (and please don’t tell me this has nothing to do with race or class; he has removed the mayors of a number of black cities. This, and the water crisis in Flint, never would have been visited upon the residents of Bloomfield Hills or Grosse Pointe -- and everyone here knows that). We have now seen the ultimate disastrous consequences of late-20th century, neo-conservative, trickle down public policy. That word “trickle,” a water-based metaphor, was used to justify this economic theory -- well, it’s no longer a metaphor, is it? Because now we’re talking about how actual water has been used to institute these twisted economic beliefs in destroying the lives of the black and the poor in Flint, Michigan.

So, do you still want to help? Really help? Because what we need in Flint – and across the country – right now, tonight, is a nonviolent army of people who are willing to stand up for this nation, and go to bat for the forgotten of Flint.

Here’s what you and I need to do:

1. Demand the removal and arrest of Rick Snyder, the Governor of Michigan. When the police have an "active shooter" situation in a building, they must first stop the shooter before they can bring aid to the victims. The perp who allowed the poisoning to continue once he knew something was wrong -- and his minions who cooked the evidence so the public and the feds wouldn't find out – must be removed from office ASAP. Whether it's via resignation, recall or prosecution, this must happen now because he is still refusing to take the aggressive and immediate action needed. His office, as recently as this past Thursday, was claiming the EPA had no legal authority to tell him what to do. You know the EPA -- that federal agency every Republican politician wants eliminated? Governor Snyder is not going to obey the law. He has covered up the crime, and I submit he has committed an act of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Last month I posted a meme of me holding a pair of handcuffs with the hashtag ‪#‎ArrestGovSnyder‬.
   It went viral, so I posted a petition (http://michaelmoore.com/ArrestGovSnyder) to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking her to arrest the Governor – and asking President Obama to send help to Flint immediately. As each day brought a new revelation of the Governor's corruption or incompetence, and with Rachel Maddow on a nightly tear, the momentum built. MoveOn.org and Democracy For America joined me in circulating our petition. We are now on our way to having a half-million signatures! Then Bernie Sanders became the first candidate to call for the Governor’s removal. That same day, President Obama issued his first emergency order for Flint. The next night, Hillary Clinton fiercely called out the racist actions of the Governor.
   You want to help? Sign the petition (http://www.michaelmoore.com/DontSendBottledWater) – and get everyone you know to sign it. Now. Another half-million signatures could become the tipping point we need. All eyes are on Flint.
2. Make the State of Michigan pay for the disaster that the State of Michigan created. The Governor wants the President to declare Flint a federal disaster zone and have him send federal money to fix the problem. Not so fast. All relief aid for Flint currently coming from the federal government to Michigan is going through the Governor's office to disburse. That is literally paying the fox to fix the chicken coop he destroyed. As a Michigan resident and voter, I think that the people who elected Governor Snyder must show some of that personal responsibility they’re always lecturing about to the poor. The majority of my fellow Michiganders wanted this kind of government (they elected him twice), so now they should have to pay for it. This year the state treasury posted nearly a $600 million surplus. There is also another $600 million in the state’s “rainy day fund”. That’s $1.2 billion – just about what Flint’s congressman, Dan Kildee, estimates it will cost to replace the water infrastructure and care for the thousands of poisoned children throughout their growing years.
   And before there is any talk of federal tax dollars being used (and, yes, they will be needed), the state legislature must remove the billion-dollars’ worth of tax cuts the Snyder administration gave the wealthy when he took office. That will go a long way to helping not just Flint but Michigan’s other destitute cities and school districts.
3. The Federal Government must then be placed in charge. The State government cannot be trusted to get this right. So, instead of declaring a federal disaster zone, President Obama must declare the same version of martial law that Governor Snyder declared over the cities of Flint and Detroit. He must step in and appoint a federal emergency manager in the state capitol to direct the resources of both the state and federal government in saving Flint. This means immediately sending in FEMA in full force. It means sending in the CDC to determine the true extent of not just the lead poisoning in the water, but also the latest outbreak that has been discovered in Flint – a tenfold increase in the number of Flint people who’ve contracted Legionnaires Disease. There have now been 87 cases since the switch to the Flint River water, and ten people have died. The local hospital has also noted sharp increases in a half-dozen other toxins found in people’s bodies. We need the CDC. The EPA must take over the testing of the water, and the Army Corps of Engineers must be sent in to begin replacing the underground pipes. Like the levees in New Orleans, this will be a massive undertaking. If it is turned over to for-profit businesses, it will take a decade and cost billions. This needs to happen right now and Obama must be in charge.


4. Evacuate any and all Flint residents who want to leave now. They’ve suffered long enough and, until the water is truly safe, no one should have to stay there who doesn’t want to. The state and FEMA should move people into nearby white townships that are still hooked up to Lake Huron water.


5. For those who choose to stay in Flint, FEMA must create a temporary water system in each home. One idea that has been suggested is to deliver two 55-gallon drums to every home in Flint. Each day water trucks will arrive to fill them with fresh clean glacial water from Lake Huron. The drums will have taps attached to them. People can’t be expected to carry jugs of water from buildings that are miles away.

In the end, we will need to create a new economy and bring new employment to this town that created the middle class, that elected the first black mayor, and that believed in and created the American Dream. They deserved more than to be poisoned by their own Governor -- a Governor who thought that, because the people in the town were politically weak, he could get away with this unnoticed and without a fight. He figured wrong.

A crime against humanity has been committed against the people of Flint, making them refugees in their own homes. Tell me honestly: if you were living in Flint right now, and you learned that your children had been drinking lead-filled water for two years, and then you discovered that the Governor knew this and the state lied about it – tell me, just how fast would your head be spinning? With your children now poisoned, and with the poisoning continuing… is the word “nonviolence” dominating your thoughts right now? Are you absolutely, stunningly amazed how peaceful the people in Flint have remained? Are you curious how much longer that can last? I hope it does. If you want to help Flint, sign the petition, demand that the federal government take action, and then get involved yourself, wherever you live, so that this doesn’t happen to you – and so that the people we elect know they can no longer break the law as they rule by fiat or indifference. We deserve much better than this.

For a better world,
Michael Moore

 

Comments

+79 # tswhiskers 2016-01-27 13:45

Mr. Moore is understandably outraged at the callous behavior of the Snyder administration. Perhaps unfortunately, this was not a terrorist act against the people of Flint; it was instead Republican business as usual working for the good of the wealthy in MI, thoughtlessly at the expense of a poor, largely black community. If it had been part of a terrorist attack, no doubt Snyder et al would have been up in arms at what happened in "his" state. Politicians on all sides would have been mouthing platitudes and saying Never again will we allow this horror to happen in America. Instead, this was just another act of selfish stupidity for which the state govt. of MI may well escape punishment of any kind. God bless Mr. Moore and the people of Flint; we have yet to see if anyone else cares about their suffering.

 

+15 # Kootenay Coyote 2016-01-27 21:23

Nevertheless, the effect is to create terror & lifelong, life-shortening injury. The motivation may have been different; the effect is just the same.

+4 # RLF 2016-01-28 06:17

Unfortunately most Americans get poisoned and turn around and vote for the same people that poisoned them. What Americans need to do is start paying attention! They need to quit acting like they were fed lead water their whole life and are mentally disabled because of it! (Hope this isn't too mean but I'm so tired of people shooting themselves in the foot!)

+11 # MidwestTom 2016-01-27 22:28

I am outraged that the EPA and or the state Michigan is allowing some unnamed corporations to continue to pollute the Flint river. Why aren't they being held responsible?

+12 # speedboy 2016-01-27 23:43

Quoting MidwestTom:

I am outraged that the EPA and or the state Michigan is allowing some unnamed corporations to continue to pollute the Flint river. Why aren't they being held responsible?

It was the Mich GOP that has always allowed the pollution just as they are still doing thruout the US today.

+2 # RLF 2016-01-28 06:18

GOP appointments and Obama's failure to change those appointments.

 

+1 # HowardMH 2016-01-28 10:58

Obama the Wimp or Clinton Sock puppet. Not sure which title I like best.

 

+12 # treerapper 2016-01-28 03:37

Actually, Michael Moore has hit the nail on the head. Snyder and his morally bankrupt administration have TERRORIZED THE PEOPLE OF FLINT MICHIGAN. Therefore, Snyder and Company are terrorists. And, they are terrorists of the worst order because their activities are covert Their modus of operation is insidious, with full knowledge of lethal outcomes. They operate with disdain, discrimination and the complete and criminal disregard for human life.

Snyder and his cronies not only need to be imprisoned, each with life sentences for each and every person who can / will no longer be able to lead a normal life, this indictment should serve as the beginning of a revolt against all such abusive and terrorizing practices inflicted by government, be it poisoning of water, denial of drinking water (Detroit), the shooting of unarmed people of color and on and on.

If you can't see that certain parts of our society are being terrorized on a constant basis, please look again.

 

+64 # RMDC 2016-01-27 16:00

Thanks Michael Moore. As usual you are right. If your 5 demands are to work and be met, they will need to have teeth. YOu will need to take over and occupy the government buildings of the state of Michigan. No government business goes on until the water problem in Flint is fixed as your demand indicate. Governor Snyder won't need to resign. He will be locked out of his office and may have to do his business in the street.

We've seen how the Federal police have treated the Oregon occupiers with soft gloves. We expect them to behave in a similar civil way toward the Michigan occupiers. They know the people of Michigan are right and that they have had enough from the governor and his administration.

Civil disobedience is in extreme situations the right of all people. What is happening in \Flint is an extreme case in the worst way. No business should go on in Michigan until the situation is fixed.