Flint Water Crisis Killed Unborn, study reveals. Politicians in Both Parties Do Nothing; Clinton AWOL

This is atrocious. Time to bring murder charges, amirite?

The city of Flint saw fewer pregnancies, and a higher number of fetal deaths, during the period women and their fetuses were exposed to high levels of lead in their drinking water, according to a new research study that reviewed health records from Flint and the state.

Fertility rates decreased by 12% among Flint women, and fetal death rates increased by 58%, after April 2014, according to research by assistant professors and health economists David Slusky at Kansas University and Daniel Grossman at West Virginia University. The pair examined vital statistics data for Flint and the rest of the state of Michigan from 2008 to 2015, zoomed down to the census-tract level.

That post-April 2014 time period is significant, because that's when — in an effort to save money — the city of Flint switched from water supplied by the city of Detroit to using the Flint River as a drinking water source, without adding needed anti-corrosives to the water. Lead levels in drinking water supplies spiked as a result.

All this was done to benefit private interests. It's effectively genocide, and yes I know what genocide means. Remember when Hillary Clinton made a big deal about Flint and got one of her billionaire donors to chip in $500,000 for a jobs program in a desperate bid to win that state's primary? Obviously that was just a token program that did nothing to alleviate the real need of the people of Flint.

Well where the hell is she and her supporters now that she lost the election? Do any of them still care about Flint? I know they care about Bernie Sanders daring to speak at a Women's Conference in Detroit even though Hillary declined an invitation to speak. Seems like a lot of wasted energy protesting a man who has backed feminist causes all his life, when right next door to Detroit people are suffering, especially young African American women of child bearing age and their children. Where's the outrage over that?

I guess this is the new normal for political discourse - gin up "Fake News" controversies in order to ignore the very real issues that should matter to people. Clean water. Climate. Healthcare as a right and not a privilege. Economic distress. Instead, we see from our elites a campaign to do anything to distract, divide and polarize the proles. America is a sick society, my friends and the disease is the huge amounts of money in politics that Bill and Hillary Clinton sought to increase for their own benefit and that of their "friends."

Sorry, people of Flint, you were only important when you could provide Her with a photo op.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

That's what the die-hard idiot supporters of both Billary and Dipshit don't seem to get.

Flint isn't the only place to be suffering from such problems, either. Hell, down here in Flawer'Duh we've got retirement communities going through similar problems thanks to failures at a nuclear power facility.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Steven D's picture

@The Aspie Corner Without her support he never would have been elected.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

MsGrin's picture

@Steven D Good chance he would not have been nominated w/o her (well, her and Brock, at any rate).

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Reading your post the word "skinflint" came to mind.

I have known about the term used to mean someone who avoids spending money.

Your post mentions how spending money on Flint continues even when the consequences continues including killing children. No need for birth control when the water kills them and it must be God's will....

And of course, the problem started with water and the diversion of cheap, clean water to a people who were destined to pay even though they had little.

Flint is a hard rock than when struck can create sparks. Flintlock rifle.

Poor people skinned animals for food and fur, including dogs, cats, rats. etc.

Here is a definition that is common:

To skin a flint to be capable of, or guilty of, any expedient or any meanness for making money.

So the skinflints continue to skin Flint and the little people are skinned and the world goes on

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riverlover's picture

I should have made the mental leap to consider them for Flint. Fairly high-volume. My bad. More communities will be turned on (backs turned) by our "government". Will this be a near-tipping-point?

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Lookout's picture

and started using dirty local water. Why can't they quickly go back to buying clean water from Detroit and help both cities?

Jordan Chariton at TYT has continued reporting the Flint water crisis. Here's an update from last week...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNVBQhvLUoM (19 min)

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

MsGrin's picture

@Lookout They ruined the pipes through that switch, so even if they went back, the problem now persists, as it were.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Lookout's picture

@MsGrin

I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't just source clean water, but it makes sense that once they "cracked" the lead skin, it would continue to leach lead into the system.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Has Clinton spent any time at all trying to improve these issues she allegedly cared about before November? Her’s got plenty of time for the Shame and Blame tour (and making dumb comments like Her recent “you elected a sexual predator President” comments) but has Her spent more than the briefest lip service on any of her “issues”? Considering the media loves giving her all the attention, you’d think she could share the spotlight with all this stuff Her supposedly cares about.

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

TheOtherMaven's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter
patting herself on the back for all she had "done" for women and children. As if photo-ops and lip service were really doing anything!

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

@Dr. John Carpenter

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Alphalop's picture

The situation in Flint just accents the banking fiasco.

Nobody will suffer the full weight of justice.

Well, someone might, but it won't be anyone that really matters...

Fuck it, We really do need a revolution. Probably a violent one, before any meaningful change will occur.

And whether or not said change will be for the good. Unfortunately there are too many examples of oppressed people overthrowing the tyrants only to be even more oppressed under worse tyrants.

One of the only difference is that at least here we do have a largely armed civilian populace.

Before the inevitable argument comes up of, "What's a bunch of red necks with hunting rifles going to do against the US Military?" the answer is simple. If the US Government needs to call on the military to attack it's citizens to maintain control it loses and argument that it is a government of the people and many, many of those "Gun clutching red necks" are the very same people that make up the standing army.

That is the real reason the founders put the right to bare arms, because it would force the government to kill it's citizens to oppress them, hence invalidating their claim to be a government of the people.

Oh, and even if it just was the rednecks?

I give you the middle east.

They are doing a damn good job for decades holding off the worlds militaries, and that's an area where indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets will go unnoticed.

Try that in San Diego. Then the uproar would only grow.

I am not hoping for such a turn, yet I fear it's one of the 3 most viable scenarios for our future.

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"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me

Raggedy Ann's picture

@Alphalop
or reading my journals. You are saying the exact things I have been saying for years. We will not have real change without a revolution that gets everyone's attention. Whether it be violent or non-violent or a combination, without major upheaval, the only change that will come about will be more and more oppression of we, the citizens.

I, too, believe the 2nd amendment is nothing more than something to use against us when the need arises. They are using it now to enable us to kill each other at will. That is the purpose of stand your ground laws, for example.

Until we, the people decide that enough really IS enough, keep bending over!

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

@Alphalop

Probably better to drop a few bombs on various big Psychopaths That Be meetings, lol. Get rid of the instigators. s/...?

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

@Ellen North where their underground fortresses are?

They know what's coming.

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@gustogirl

No, but they're going to run and hide in those luxury bunkers, which will be traceable - which leaves the rest of us up here with the bunker bombs, lol.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Daenerys's picture

@Alphalop it's called 'revolution' because it goes around.

At this point I think everyone should filter their own drinking water (if you can afford it), and make sure to get one of the lead-filtering ones. We have a Pur filter on the kitchen sink faucet. I expect nothing to be done until we as a country decide to stop protecting corporations above everything else.

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This shit is bananas.

SnappleBC's picture

Recently, a blood test on the 7-year-old found more than twice the average level of lead for young children, even though as far as anyone knows he's never come in contact with lead paint or tainted soil.

Beyond Flint: Excessive lead levels found in almost 2,000 water systems across all 50 states
Jamison's school, Caroline Elementary in Ithaca, N.Y., is one of hundreds across the nation where children were exposed to water containing excessive amounts of an element doctors agree is unsafe at any level, a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation found. An analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data showed about 350 schools and day-care centers failed lead tests a total of about 470 times from 2012 through 2015.

That represents nearly 20% of the water systems nationally testing above the agency's "action level" of 15 parts per billion.

One water sample at a Maine elementary school was 41 times higher while another at a Pennsylvania preschool was 14 times higher. And a sink in a music-room bathroom at Caroline Elementary tested this year at 5,000 ppb of lead, results released by the school system show.

That's the cutoff where the EPA labels a substance “hazardous waste.”
USA Today

Wouldn't it be nice if "standing with her" meant standing for something? I sometimes wonder when "the resistance" is "thinking of the children" whether they spend any thought on topics like nation-wide lead poisoning in our schools and homes.

Yes, it is too bad that Hillary is too busy casting blame and fomenting a war with Russia to actually help anyone.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

riverlover's picture

@SnappleBC And when they went through, pediatricians were blood-testing. 2nd child's blood Pb level was a tad high. They suggested we test home pipes. Frankly, I do not know if 1990+ kids drank out of water fountains.

The other similarly-timed constructed school here was Enfield Elementary. Also high Pb. Construction practices in NY then?

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@SnappleBC

Hey, the more brain function they destroy in us Disposables, the less likely we can think circles around them. I've long wondered if a lot of the various neurotoxic poisons we're being flooded with is planned...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

snoopydawg's picture

@SnappleBC

Wouldn't it be nice if "standing with her" meant standing for something?

Look at how many people have joined protests since Trump was elected. So far millions of people have protested against him for various reasons. But I still have no idea what the pussy march was about and what they were protesting.
Is he a vile human being who has said and done horrible things to women? Absolutely. But what good did the protests accomplish? They brought attention to this issue, but what did it mean to Trump?
What about all the other protests? Same questions.

On the other hand, where were the protests against the Flint situation, the fracking polluted waters, earthquakes and all the other environmental problems we have in this country?

Where were the massive protests against Obama's foreign policies and most of the other things he did?
Were are they against what Trump is doing now that Obama set the precedent for?

I too am to blame for not protesting against them and just because I'm critical of Obama's actions, I'm to be blamed for not trying to do anything. Or is it because we know that it doesn't matter what we say or do?
The world marched against the Iraq war, yet it happened anyway. OWS protested against the bank bailouts and we saw how that went. We saw the PTB's goon squad almost kill Scott Olsen as well as the people who helped him. How many people are living with permanent injuries or criminal records and massive fines because they used their right to protest against their government.

Same things happened to the BLM and DAPL protesters. These people are willing to risk their lives for what they see as an injustice, so why aren't the rest of us?
I don't know. You?

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SnappleBC's picture

@snoopydawg

I'm too much of a coward to risk my life at this stage of the game. That may come later. But is that really even being asked of me? The protests of BLM, OWS & DAPL.... THEY risked their lives not in order to get the government to change it's course. They well understood that was hopeless. They risked their lives to wake my ass up. In my case that worked and I think that is sufficient... so long as I spread that awareness. I am doing what I can to educate myself and then those I talk to hoping to spread awareness of those causes but more urgently, the underlying reasons for those causes. I invest what political capital I have working against the oligarchy. I vote to enable populism.

So then you're real question, in my opinion, is why hasn't that worked in so many other cases? I always look to my brother as the most interesting case. He was already quite aware of government corruption in areas like domestic surveillance, FISA courts, CIA plots, etc. And yet he's sold on Obama & Hillary. He's an intelligent guy. In my assessment the issue here is that he still thinks of anonymous sources quoted in the Washington Post as being credible. He sees actual journalism, well thought out and cited to be, at best, highly questionable sources.

In other words, the deep state's propaganda techniques are well honed and highly effective. The same can be said of their utilization of left/right to divide us even when we, collectively, do discern the common foe.

From personal experience I'll go one further than that. For me, once I began to really understand reality I was horrified, scared, and angry. It was an unpleasant time. It was highly difficult to face ALL of the implications of the things I was learning. I can readily understand why someone might not either have the courage or not have been pushed hard enough to really grasp with questions like, "If I acknowledge that the CIA has lied repeatedly and regularly about a wide variety of things over time, why will I accept their unsupported analysis of anything?"

There's my guess.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

snoopydawg's picture

@SnappleBC
This:

They risked their lives to wake my ass up.

You are right about this. We here pretty much agree with what they are doing, why they are doing it and that many of them are putting their lives at risk doing it.. I too am too much of a coward to do what many others are doing. The very thought of prison has been one of my bete noires.
I too am trying to wake people up from their delusional thinking. My uncle thinks that Obama walks on water and that Rachel is carrying his train of the cloak he wears that masks who he actually is.
I have tried expressing my opinions about him, but his mind is made up. And since he and my aunt are the only remaining family I have, it's not worth it to alienate them because of my beliefs.

We did everything we could to try to wake up the members of ToP about Obama, Hillary and the democrats, but it didn't matter what we said and that we backed up our statements with numerous examples, they refused to open their closed minds. We were constantly accused of spreading right wing talking points. If any of us returned there and said something about how they are buying into this Russian propaganda, we'd be banned before our comments posted.

I have had to bite my fingers about some of the ideas that they are spreading. Especially when they are opposed to the same actions that Obama did and now Trump is continuing.

I too have been wondering why the hell they are believing Clapper insisting that Russia interfered with the election, that Mueller is going to bring charges against Trump and his minions when they know damned well that they will lie to us whenever it fits their objectives?

IMG_1168.JPG

Always remember the Maine!

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

And this is all just about the lead, never mind the toxins and corrosive aspect of the polluted water that leached out that amount of lead from the pipes...

If a terrorist poisoned a city's water supply like this, would the reaction be the same?

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

MsGrin's picture

@Ellen North If someone who did this were labeled a terrorist, they would be killed in retribution. I'd be happy with some jail time for someone.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

@MsGrin

But I guess there's no fun in labeling anyone a terrorist unless it provides an excuse to go bomb other people minding their own business in their own countries...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

@Ellen North pragmatic. They just HAD to do that, because cost savings.... Damn the reality of the thing. They should damned well go to jail, but they never will.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

@lizzyh7

Yup, they should have been charged, tried and, being guilty as the hell they're creating, imprisoned long ago and kept on bread and Flint water...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

snoopydawg's picture

IMG_1063_2.JPG

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MsGrin's picture

It was all over as soon as she got that endorsement. I don't think we've even heard a peep out of Chelsea about it since then.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

snoopydawg's picture

@MsGrin

didn't even have to campaign to get people to vote for her. She thought she would just need to show up at the convention to become the nominee.
Instead she had to cheat to win even the primary and she ended up losing the election. To the worst candidate ever to run for president.
Hubris, thy name is Hillary.

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Bollox Ref's picture

and we all know that for HRC, Gold is key.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

SnappleBC's picture

I thought in light of this story it'd be interesting to see just how lesser the lesser evil is. So I put together this map. It shows the state governs after the 2016 elections along with color coding for number of tests showing toxic lead levels (from green to hot pink).

For your viewing entertainment

Now I don't know about you, but to me it seems pretty apparent that the amount of toxic water has little to do with the party in the governor's mansion and a lot more to do with geography.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

snoopydawg's picture

@SnappleBC

and see how many states turned red in 8 years after Barry the wonder president was elected. And also see how many of those states had contaminated water then. We know that there is a difference between how both party's governments have legislation that is more harmful to their citizens and if now that there are more republican governors, how badly did this affect people in this country?

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@SnappleBC

Any geographic area controlled by a Corporate Party representative?

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

SnappleBC's picture

@Ellen North

I'm going with... The big area of green dots must be some particular water basin. I can't imagine what else it is. For the rest, I'm guessing a pretty tight correlation between population density and lead levels.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

@SnappleBC

Might want to check into mining/industry in the area? Unfortunately, there will likely be industrial polluters everywhere and there may simply be more of them pumping particularly corrosive toxins into that water source or something that feeds into it. Must be a lot and/or long-term, to be that obviously inimical to life, if it's that acidic. Sorta like the crap pumped/dumped endlessly into the oceans to 'dilute' it as 'the solution', until sea-birds have toxic poop and the die-off of aquatic life and that which feeds off of it becomes impossible to conceal.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

snoopydawg's picture

last had clean water. That's over more than 3 years! This is outrageous, especially in supposedly the richest country in the world. And even though they can't drink it or bathe in it, they still have to pay for it. And of course if they refused to do so, they will be hit with high financial penalties.m
Snyder, who was included in the changing where the water came from has not been held accountable for this.

As repeatedly pointed out by Herheinousbots, Hillary is the Great Defender of Women and Children, and yet after her one time photo stunt, she never said or did anything to help them. This seems like a no brainer for someone with her reputation which goes to show that it's a false reputation. Just one more false thing about her.
Did
It's been 1269 days since the residents of Flint, Michigan last had clean water.Obama, the best president since FDR even mention this? I know that he couldn't be bothered to visit Flint even though he was not too far away from it. And of course the media has moved on to more important things to cover. Like the non stop coverage of Harvey. Is what he did worth this amount of coverage when there are many more important issues to be covered? Such as Trump twitting about NFL players
good grief

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@snoopydawg @snoopydawg

Leave poor Hillary alone! It's not as though Her Fundation could step in to help because the people of Flin have nothing to loot they don't have a department for that.

Edited because a letter didn't go though. Not because my keyboard randomly sticks as metal filings (which were unfortunately spewed on it when it was at my brothers house, near some machinery) tend to shift around inside, but because of all those damn Russian spies hiding in there.

And another 'timed out... trying again...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

lotlizard's picture

speaks for the whole mentality of American individualism and its economic priorities:

A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa Flint.

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/markzucker416520.html

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