While in Flint, Don't drink their water

[313WX]

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...suit/82794234/

Snyder’s lawyers argue Flint lawsuit filed too late

[Jimaz]

You really think it was wine & roses before Snyder tried to help Flint and failed? Even Roger Moore wouldn't agree with that....

He has a point there.

[Wesley Mouch]

He has a point there.

I'm just glad you didn't post a giant picture of the other Moore.

[RaumVogel]

Oh,the irony.

[Wesley Mouch]

Crime levels driven by lead levels? I'd heard the theory before. This article in the Atlantic has some shaky assumptions, but I'd not see the lead/crime correlation laid out clearly before.

[compn]

http://www.motherjones.com/environme...hildren-health

http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jfe...lead_crime.pdf

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...070701073.html

[Wesley Mouch]

http://www.motherjones.com/environme...hildren-health

http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jfe...lead_crime.pdf

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...070701073.html

Thanks.

On many levels, this makes great sense. The graph on lead levels in Flint that's been so widely used to condemn Snyder shows a big bump at the end [[blame: Snyder!) but overall shows a just amazing drop in lead levels over the last two decades.

I'd suggest that we reduce teacher wages and increase funding to remove lead from our schools. That might be the magic bullet to solve DPS.

Or maybe the police critics are right. Stop & Frisk is irrelevant. Pay officers instead to monitor lead levels.

After reading those articles [[just scanned Harvard, I'll admit), I am ready to jump on the single cause of crime is lead ship. [[Of course its not. Little in life is simple.)

[emu steve]

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...rges/83274126/

I've been following the story from a distance without understanding the REAL details.

What I read, is that the state folks employed very dubious, and at times unscientific and illegal methods in their sampling measures.

Early on in my career, I did survey research with a government agency although I was not involved in sample selection, etc. [[there was a different group who controlled the sample selection procedures).

In cases like Flint, the sample has to be carefully drawn. It can be stratified and there can be 'over sampling', etc. [[those are sampling strategies) but the sample has to give each house an honest [[fair) probability of being selected for the study.

And can't toss out an 'outlier' [[weird, unexpected result) because it seems 'strange.'

If the sampling was done right, houses with lead pipes would be proportionally selected for study and there almost certainly would have been statistically significant difference between houses with lead pipes and those without.

For example, just throwing out some hypothetical numbers. Say the non-lead houses had an average of say 2 parts per billion [[or whatever the numbers are) and the lead houses had 100 [[or even 50) parts per billion.

A statistician could run the stats and say come up with the conclusion: "that the difference was significant at the .001 level [[p < .001)" and red flags would have gone up: "Houston, we have a problem. Lead levels in homes with lead pipes is statistically higher than non-lead pipes. This is not a chance occurrence or finding. Something else appears to be happening... "

[313WX]

Funny how this seemed to slide under the radar of Michigan's mainstream media.

This is turning into a bigger crime syndicate then even I would have imagined. It's making Watergate and Kwame Kilpatrick's corruption look like child's play in comparison.

Woman in leading Flint water crisis lawsuit slain in twin killing

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...poisoning.html

[Dumpling]

My heartfelt condolences on the loss of the three people in Flint. My prayers go
out for the community. I am reminded of the time I was a camp counselor [[I had
been working at an auto parts supplier, but it laid off staff due to a strike in the 90s,
so, let's see what else I can do) and there was one kid there - likely from Chicago,
most of the kids at Circle Pines were from that metro - who completely lost it when
the campers got to the song, "Shall The Circle Be Unbroken" - his Mom had passed
not long before that.

[Dumpling]

I don't see gangland style hits in these two cases. That's not what's going on,
even though racketeering suits are getting thrown into the mix. What might
be more likely is that the various stresses associated with the Flint Water
Crisis interacted with other factors to cause the deaths. The background
information is not complete.

[313WX]

What might
be more likely is that the various stresses associated with the Flint Water
Crisis interacted with other factors to cause the deaths.

Can you please elaborate?

You may very well be right, but I'm willing to hear out all perspectives.

[Dumpling]

In the comments someone who seems to be a family member wrote
concerning Matthew McFarland: "he was extremely stressed at work
and being called a baby-killer by protesters really took its toll" .


http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...an_dies_a.html

His death might have been a direct suicide, or it could be that he had some
other health problem that he didn't seek medical attention for on account of
feeling so stressed.

[313WX]

In the comments someone who seems to be a family member wrote
concerning Matthew McFarland: "he was extremely stressed at work
and being called a baby-killer by protesters really took its toll" .


http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...an_dies_a.html

His death might have been a direct suicide, or it could be that he had some
other health problem that he didn't seek medical attention for on account of
feeling so stressed.

That's very much possible, but is it cynical to not believe these killings were not coincidences?

1. We don't know for certain if that commenter was a family member. Any mouth-breathing troglodyte can create an online account pretending to be someone they're not.

2. There has been a mainstream media blackout on these killings by mainstream sources [[similar to Tamara Greene's death during the Kwame Kilpatrick saga).

3. If these were truly random killings, why was the 1 year old in Bell's apartment left unharmed? Wouldn't everyone alive in that apartment been killed if there were no intended victims?

4. These were two top witnesses to a bellweather case in the Flint Water Crisis that involved not only several top-ranking officials, but also 6 privately-owned companies.

5. The timing of these killings were odd too [[at a time here both were being questioned in investigations and the lawsuit filed oddly keeps getting bounced around between federal and state court).

Again, not saying you're wrong. But I also think it's unwise to assume something nefarious isn't going on as well, as there are too many concidences in these two deaths and there are a lot of powerful people who don't want these lawsuits to go forward.

[Dumpling]

As far as the two young ladies that were shot, it has been reported that there
was one arrest in their case, but I can't find more details at this time. A link to
the Flint Water Crisis is probably more tenuous, but it could be something like
they needed to get away from a domestic abuser, moving to another state and
cutting off contact with all friends and family, but they were too involved in the
Flint protests and lawsuits to do so.

[Dumpling]

I think that there has been collaboration and conspiracy [[for lack of a better word)
among private contractors connected to the water industry. I do believe that there
has been an intent, backed by the Snyder administration, to expand the role that the
private contractors play while at the same time pare public water operations staff
to the absolute minimum possible.
In the case of Flint, the facts are not all in, but due to the Emergency Manager
and staffing cuts prior, it appears that Flint did not have enough staff to properly
manage the switch from DWSD to the Flint River. The preparations for the switch
were woefully inadequate. But I am pretty sure that the advising contractors
whose names are associated with the Flint Water Crisis are not happy with what
went down: to wit, most likely, what they really wanted were the contracts to
manage and operate the plant [[as opposed to having the public sector manage
and operate the plant - that would be me and my ilk - I do kind of have a dog in
the fight); and what they got was, they made several recommendations AFTER
the fact of the switch, which then weren't funded by the State, so their names
are pasted into this fiasco right along with those of the water plant workers and
the MDEQ.
But they wouldn't be assassinating anyone in Flint on this account!

[Wesley Mouch]

I think that there has been collaboration and conspiracy [[for lack of a better word) among private contractors connected to the water industry. I do believe that there
has been an intent, backed by the Snyder administration, to expand the role that the
private contractors play while at the same time pare public water operations staff
to the absolute minimum possible....snip...

Size of staff doesn't necessarily have anything to do with organizational capacity. This is a regular complain of the left -- you fired everyone when you 'rightsized'. Might be a valid complaint here and there -- but also be the responsible action in most cases.

If Flint's water department wasn't prepared to handle the transition, is it also likely that it wasn't prepared to handle the existing duties as well before Snyder and EM's arrived.

Its a long leap, IMO, to assume that Snyder and EM destroyed Flint's perfectly wonderful water board with their evil. I don't believe in EMs. I think cities should fail financially -- and just stop paying their bills. That'll get 'radical change' happening. EMs are, IMO, the tool of the left to protect the status quo from the true disruption that's needed to help fix our cities for our most vulnerable citizens.

[313WX]

Newly released emails pretty much affirm what everyone except possibly Wesley Mouch already knew...

And this name certainly looks familiar [[very high ranking member in Snyder's cabinet).

Why he hasn't been criminally charged and is still receiving my taxpayer dollars in the form of a check is mind-boggling, unless he's going to be the one to squeal like a Pig if Snyder throws him under the bus...

"It is important to note that council did not take a vote to use Flint river [[sic)," Harvey Hollins, Snyder's director of urban initiatives, wrote in an Oct. 7, 2015 email to Dan Wyant, former director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality...


...Hollins' email stops short of saying who approved the switch, but said the decision to use the Flint River was made in April 2014 in order to stop paying Detroit for water service until the new Karegnondi Water Authority was online.


Snyder's Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore and then-Communications Director Jarrod Agen, who has since replaced Muchmore as chief of staff, were copied on the email.

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde....html#comments


Flint water emails show Flint City Council never approved switch

[SDCC]

Newly released emails pretty much affirm what everyone except possibly Wesley Mouch already knew...

And this name certainly looks familiar [[very high ranking member in Snyder's cabinet).

Why he hasn't been criminally charged and is still receiving my taxpayer dollars in the form of a check is mind-boggling, unless he's going to be the one to squeal like a Pig if Snyder throws him under the bus...

"It is important to note that council did not take a vote to use Flint river [[sic)," Harvey Hollins, Snyder's director of urban initiatives, wrote in an Oct. 7, 2015 email to Dan Wyant, former director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality...


...Hollins' email stops short of saying who approved the switch, but said the decision to use the Flint River was made in April 2014 in order to stop paying Detroit for water service until the new Karegnondi Water Authority was online.


Snyder's Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore and then-Communications Director Jarrod Agen, who has since replaced Muchmore as chief of staff, were copied on the email.

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde....html#comments


Flint water emails show Flint City Council never approved switch

Patience, more of these idiotic, lying, bureaucrats will be charged. And this initial installment of arrests is the state of Michigan – Attorney General. The Feds have their own investigation underway as well. Michiganders should be proud; there are several investigations going on simultaneously. From the Dearborn Police department, to Detroit Pitiful Schools, to the gang up in Flint, this state has an endless amount of investigations that keep various Federal employees busy – job security.

[313WX]

Patience, more of these idiotic, lying, bureaucrats will be charged. And this initial installment of arrests is the state of Michigan – Attorney General. The Feds have their own investigation underway as well. Michiganders should be proud; there are several investigations going on simultaneously. From the Dearborn Police department, to Detroit Pitiful Schools, to the gang up in Flint, this state has an endless amount of investigations that keep various Federal employees busy – job security.

It's amazing.

I never in a million years thought Detroit / Michigan politics was this corrupt. Not even the politicians in Illinois can top what's going on in Michigan's cesspool of government.

[Wesley Mouch]

Newly released emails pretty much affirm what everyone except possibly Wesley Mouch already knew...

And this name certainly looks familiar [[very high ranking member in Snyder's cabinet).
...Flint water emails show Flint City Council never approved switch

I prefer my ignorance to groupthink. Thank you.

As to 'never approved'... I would doubt they were asked. CC didn't seem to mind, however. Apparently nobody minded at the time. Not even Roger Moore's brother Mikey.

[313WX]

I prefer my ignorance...

No arguments with you there.

[SDCC]

It's amazing.

I never in a million years thought Detroit / Michigan politics was this corrupt. Not even the politicians in Illinois can top what's going on in Michigan's cesspool of government.

Michigan has a bit more stealing and corruption prior to taking the crown from Illinois – Michigan is however, trying it’s very best to eclipse Illinois as the king of graft, certainly getting in the top five. Michigan has a long list of public officials that have disgraced themselves, as well the office they swore to protect and uphold. Innumerable public officials in Michigan, Detroit City Council included, have been inducted into this hall of SHAME. The Kilpatrick family – is at the top of the list, including his father, like father, like son. Kilpatrick’s associates [[cronies) dot the city – hiding in, of all places, the education fields.
Illinois has a slight advantage, as 4 out of their last 7 governors have gone to prison. Snyder is the worse governor in America; his I don’t know, I didn’t know, and I don’t recall, have cemented his place in history.

Michigan’s legacy:

https://www.justice.gov/sites/defaul...tion-tally.pdf

[Dumpling]

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...port/83815148/

The report shows that the Flint based contractor might have forgotten about the
corrosion control in Flint before MDEQ failed to require it.

[compn]

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...port/83815148/

The report shows that the Flint based contractor might have forgotten about the
corrosion control in Flint before MDEQ failed to require it.

hired by the EM