Current swamp status ✈️

Nestl pays $200 a year to bottle water near Flint where water is undrinkable

If you don't boycott ALL things Nestle, you should

While Flint battles a water crisis, just two hours away the beverage giant pumps almost 100,000 times what an average Michigan resident uses into plastic bottles

Gina Luster bathed her child in lukewarm bottled water, emptied bottle by bottle into the tub, for months. It became a game for her seven-year-old daughter. Pop the top off a bottle, and pour it into the tub. It takes about 30 minutes for a child to fill a tub this way. Pop the top, pour it in; pop the top, pour it in. Maybe less if you can get gallon jugs.

Luster lives in Flint, Michigan, and here, residents believe tap water is good for one thing: to flush the toilet.

“I don’t even water my plants with it,” she said.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/29/nestle-pays-200-a-year-to-bottle-water-near-flint-where-water-is-undrinkable?CMP=share_btn_tw

China Orders North Korean Business Closed Under U.N. Sanctions

BEIJING (AP) — China on Thursday ordered North Korean-owned businesses to close, cutting foreign revenue for the isolated North under U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear and missile programs.

China is North Korea's main trading partner, making Beijing's cooperation essential to the success of sanctions aimed at stopping the North's pursuit of weapons technology. China, long North Korea's diplomatic protector, has gone along with the latest penalties out of growing frustration with leader Kim Jong Un's government.

North Korean businesses and ventures with Chinese partners must close within 120 days of the U.N. Security Council's Sept. 11 approval of the latest sanctions, according to the Ministry of Commerce. That would be early January.

North Korean companies operate restaurants and other ventures in China, helping to provide the North with foreign currency. North Korean laborers work in Chinese factories and other businesses.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-orders-north-korean-business-closed-under-u-n-sanctions-n805506?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

Trump Prepares to Pick His Own Auditor at the IRS

Donald Trump soon will get to choose a new leader for the IRS, a person who may have two high-profile and sensitive jobs: helping implement the the president’s proposed tax cuts and overseeing an audit of his tax returns.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen’s term expires on Nov. 12 and he is unlikely to be reappointed. He was hired by President Barack Obama and is loathed by congressional Republicans, who tried to impeach him in 2016.

Trump hasn’t nominated anyone to replace Koskinen. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, whose department includes the Internal Revenue Service, is said to be in the early stages of the selection process, according to two people familiar with the matter.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-28/trump-gets-to-replace-his-auditor-as-irs-head-prepares-to-leave

It's a miracle! Jeanuuuus Cohn says we can pay for the entire tax cut through economic growth

Tax cuts Republicans proposed this week will be paid for entirely through economic growth, chief White House economic advisor Gary Cohn said Thursday.

Republicans issued the tax overhaul plan Wednesday that simplifies the tax code, breaking rates down into three categories and cutting corporate rates. The plan also seeks to give companies a break for profits stashed overseas while doubling the standard deduction for most filers.

The tax cuts are projected to cost at least $1.5 trillion and up to $2.2 trillion, according to one analysis. Tax reform, along with reduced regulation and infrastructure spending, was the cornerstone President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.

Cohn said the cuts won't increase the budget deficit.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/28/trump-advisor-gary-cohn-says-we-can-pay-for-the-entire-tax-cut-through-economic-growth.html

Marriott will not cancel conference hosted by anti-Muslim hate group

The nation’s largest anti-Muslim hate group is scheduled to hold its annual conference at a Marriott International property 4 miles from the White House, despite pressure from advocacy groups that have been calling on the hotelier to cancel the event.

ACT for America, which has promoted its ties to the Trump administration, is hosting a two-day conference at the Crystal City Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia, on Oct. 2 and 3. The group’s website says the event will be “the nation’s largest national security-focused grass roots gathering.”

It was not clear how many people would attend, but ACT for America — which is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — says it has 750,000 members.

Marriott said it will not cancel the conference.

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/tns/marriott-says-it-will-not-cancel-conference-hosted-by-anti/article_edca5af8-d0e5-5f61-a270-ad4ac1bfeacd.html

God.

Moore's win is bad for Alabama, and even worse for the GOP

As a proud Alabaman, I'm walking today with my shoulders slumped. Roy Moore is the Republican nominee to be the next U.S. senator from my state, and he is likely to be elected in December. Moore is bad for Alabama and worse for the GOP.

To liberals, having Moore in the Senate will be the gift that keeps on giving. He will be the mainstream media's favorite Republican senator. They will count on Moore to embody every negative stereotype that a conservative from Alabama and an elected Republican can have. And based on what we know about Moore, he is unlikely to disappoint. Liberals couldn't be happier. Finally, there is a truly anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Muslim, anti-everything elected Republican for all the world to see.

Beyond believing that he is divinely guided, Moore doesn't really have a governing point of view. At least not one that is applicable to this century. To suggest that Moore represents something Trumpian only confirms the worst things said about the president. The idea that Moore sees the world the way some cantankerous Republicans such as Ted Cruz, R-Texas, do is an insult to Cruz.

And to those who say that Moore's election is somehow good for President Donald Trump, well, I wonder exactly what they think Trump might gain from the presence of an ill-informed, failed demagogue in the GOP Senate caucus. Alabama specifically and Republicans everywhere will suffer as a result of Moore's presence in Washington.

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/column-roy-moores-win-is-bad-for-alabama-and-even-worse-for-the-gop/2338975

Mom says 6-year-old son 'silenced' after he knelt for the Pledge of Allegiance

WESLEY CHAPEL (FL) — Eugenia McDowell got the text message late Monday evening, while cooking for her family.

Her youngest son, a 6-year-old first grader at Wiregrass Elementary School in Pasco County, had taken a knee that morning as his class recited the Pledge of Allegiance. It wasn’t something planned — the boy never told his parents he might do so — but in their household, it wasn’t completely out-of-the-blue, either.

The child’s two older brothers had dropped to their knees a year ago during the national anthem at their high school football game. He and his family avidly follow football, where the topic of silent protest mushroomed over the weekend after President Donald Trump’s pronouncements on the subject. And they regularly watch and discuss the news, including stories about racial justice.

What bothered McDowell, an operations manager who moved to the area three years ago, was the teacher’s response, which she considered biased, condescending and on the verge of threatening.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/mom-says-her-6-year-old-son-is-silenced-by-a-teacher-after-he-kneels-for/2339006

The protests have been hijacked by folks with an agenda.

I tried to set the record straight this morning. I think this is worth your time.

https://twitter.com/getnickwright/status/912421985958768640