George Rebane
Having strong or well-formed political beliefs doesn’t always mean that one is also willing or able to reason about them.
Now some keenly honed liberal minds around here think that we should consider the source and therefore ignore the evidence against Hillary. That’s like telling the DA he can’t prosecute because the police got the goods on the defendant from shady informant Vlad the Snitch. Only in America.
In the 3jan17 Union there’s a letter from a Mr Ron Lowe, another leftwinger who lights off on President-elect Trump. The man shows his union school education by citing the non-existent “60s Republican war playbook” that is the source of Trump’s “obvious inferiority complex”, “fear mongering”, and “openly flagrant nuclear war talk”. Now since none of this is happening during his current efforts to set up his administration, Mr Lowe must be getting such reports from one of the many fake news manufactories that have sprung up within the usual lamestream media outlets.
I’m happy to know that our neighbors on the Left will now have at least four enlightening years of the Trump administration during which they will know exactly how we felt and why we protested during the last eight years under the ministrations of Barack Hussein Obama whose domestic policies increased regulations, decreased freedoms, raised taxes, stifled the economy, grew corrupt government; and whose foreign policy can be summarized by ‘Protect Muslims, Ignore Christians, Blame Jews’.
We’re told that former POTUS Obama will have to remain in DC to guard his legacy and provide much needed leadership to the Democrats. Apparently there will be no one else from the Left who is willing to spend much political capital to secure fPOTUS an acceptable place in history. So he’ll just have to do the job himself and become the festering fly in the federal ointment and also his own monument around which today’s over-wrought socialists can rally while they seek to preserve the swamp.
[4jan17 update] Read if you dare Victor Davis Hanson’s most recent report on the state of the Golden State. Abetted by the toxic coastal elites and as we witness daily, our local Left is doing all it can to expand their progressive septic tank to Nevada County. Here is a paragraph, suitable for family reading, that summarizes the details of Hanson’s piece –
Abstract idealism on behalf of the distant is a powerful psychological narcotic that allows caring progressives to dull the guilt they feel about their own privilege and riches. Nowhere is this paradox truer than in California, a dysfunctional natural paradise in which a group of coastal and governing magnificoes virtue-signal from the world’s most exclusive and beautiful enclaves. The state is currently experiencing another perfect storm of increased crime, decreased incarceration, still ongoing illegal immigration, and record poverty. All that is energized by a strapped middle class that is still fleeing the overregulated and overtaxed state, while the arriving poor take their places in hopes of generous entitlements, jobs servicing the elite, and government employment.
rebanesruminations.com 
264 responses to “Scattershots – 3jan17 (updated 4jan17)”
No problem. Once again thanks for agreeing with me the Russians are not involved.
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Put a fork in it Paul, you’re done. Not a shred from you the Ruskies did it. Except
“We, “O” and Co. say so.” So the LIBS will start a war with Putin just to save face.
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Todd 5:20-This is all you have to say? You’re slipping my Yuba Watershed friend.
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“George Tenet was Bush’s guy Gregory once he selected him to be the head of the CIA. Gosh you know that.”
Paul, you’re an idiot.
Tenet was appointed by Bill Clinton in ’97, but gosh, you didn’t know that.
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George, the VDH piece got me chuckling this morning for its unintentional comedy. At one point he writes
Snort! Snicker!
He’s basically right, but I don’t know if I’ve heard Grass Valley called hip since I moved here 25 years ago nor do I think Brown would be caught dead moving to GV.
I’ve been told the current Gov. Brown did visit The Willo with Linda Ronstadt years ago on a day where he visited some family property of the time, perhaps up around North San Juan.
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He was Gregory but Bush kept him on the team then he became Bush’s guy-duh
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PaulE 627pm – Anything substantive for us on the VDH piece?
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Let’s see. Wikileaks released e-mails from a private enterprise and private parties. Not covered under the espionage act. Now, if government files were hacked or government classified docs were taken off secure premises without permission and stored/maintained on….say….a private homebrewed server in the bathroom of a home, well, By Golly, that in and of itself is a violation of the Espionage Act.
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Gregory @ 6:26 pm
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Governor Jerry Brown said he is not sure legalizing pot is a good idea in his state because the country could lose its competitive edge if too many people are getting stoned.
If pot smoking gains more legitimacy in the nation’s most populous state, Brown said he worries it could have negative ripple effects.
“The problem with anything, a certain amount is OK. But there is a tendency to go to extremes,” he said in a wide-ranging interview aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And all of a sudden, if there’s advertising and legitimacy, how many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?”
http://www.mercurynews.com/2014/03/02/marijuana-in-california-jerry-brown-opposes-legalization-says-we-need-to-stay-alert/
Judging by a certain local DJ’s thought process, the Gov was spot on.
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Bill. DJ you say? We should throw an inauguration party and hire him. Can you see “GO TRUMP” nailed above the CD players? That would make his night. I bet we could pack the PV park, rain or shine. Tape the event and send it to Trump, Care of the W.H., just to let him know there is an island of sanity in Ca.
Think he would do it? or pulla never Trumper?
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Bill the article you linked to brown opposing marijuana was three years ago and Brown was neutral on props 64 and did not speak against it
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Also a note all of you if any of you knew me personally you would know that I am not a pot smoker you’re just making that up because you have nothing to say
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Yeah yeah you can hire me for a party Let me know when and we’ll talk business
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I played lots of gigs for Deukmejian ,Wilson and other Republicans State wide and locally I mean if you own a shoe store you don’t only sell shoes to the people of your political persuasion I look forward to the opportunity
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Posted by: Paul Emery | 04 January 2017 at 07:19 PM
Also a note all of you if any of you knew me personally you would know that I am not a pot smoker you’re just making that up because you have nothing to say.
Nope……just thought you were into the Hippy Lettuce…..more interested to know why you’ve gone full Cold Warrior!
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Don’t have a clue what you’re talking about Fish. Please translate.
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George
I’ll read the piece tonight and comment on it tomorrow
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Hippy Lettuce = MARIJUANA
Wow……so defensive!
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OK Paul,, so you don’t partake…. So,,, have you thought about starting? You DO advocate it’s use. It’s going to be a rough 8 years for the Leftys.
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Paul, the Jerry Brown post was to Gregory. You said you would not converse with me anymore. That makes you a liar. You are a liar. You are a liar. You are a liar. You are a liar. You lied.
Do you agree with me that you are a liar?
Oh course you have said many times you don’t smoke. Never doubted it, but lately one has to wonder. Maybe it’s just some weird disease trapped in the old theater building Hmmm. But, can I trust a liar? Liar, liar, pants on fire!
Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar.
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My goodness Bill are you OK
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Walt being a libertarian type of course I believe people should be able to smoke something if they want to The opposite to that view is you support a government that has police that can intrude your personal life to the point that they can incarcerate you for making that choice The next thing that will happen is government helicopters will fly over your backyard to see what you’re growing Whoops they already do that do you actually believe smoking marijuana should be illegal and punishable as a crime ?
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HEER we go…. It sure doesn’t matter now, does it? Just more burdens on society that the taxpayer will be footing the bill for. What’s the next drug on the list to legalize?
By your logic, people should be able to snort shoot or pop anything that floats their boat.
And that would be great just how?
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Walt, a true libertarian would say government has no business telling people they can’t shoot heroin and thus personal use of heroin is none of their business. There should be no laws about the use of heroin. But, ideology is one thing, pragmatiism is another.
PAUL, did you or did not say you would not talk to me in the future? Yes or no? Yes or no? If yes, does that make you a liar? Thankyou for agreeing with me that you are A LIAR. You are a liar. You lied! Yes or no, Paul? YES or NO? Answer me, you LIAR.
Hey, everybody lies at some time if they are human. Yes, Paul, I am fine. I just want to show you by example how idiotic it sounds when someone like you comes over and spends hundreds of hours saying, “He Lied! He lied, he lied” month in, month out.
A taste of your own medicine. So, you lied, I lied, your favorite school teacher lied a few times in his/her lives. But, but, but. No buts. Just periods. All people have lied. All people have been mistaken. All people. It’s the big ones we need to watch out after. Sometimes we change our minds as new information comes in or we see things from another perspective. Shooting from the hip is one thing. Telling me I can keep my doctor and save $2,500/ a year on health insurance premiums knowing full well I won’t is another.
Trump lied, Trump lied. You will be eating a lot of crow if Hillary ends up serving time.
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Now, let’s talk issues and ideas…
One man’s opinion.
1) Trump distrusts the Obama politicalized Intelligence appatratus. Probably for good reason. He is toying with the Dems. He will not show his hand under he is sitting behind the Oval Office.
2). Hacking government systems is one thing. Hacking the DNC is another. Separate issues. Totally different. Apples and oranges. The DNC, the Podesta e-mails and paid campaign staff private correspondence….well, it is up to private entities to provide their own security. Not the government’s job.
3) Trump seeks to improve relations with Russia and lower the current temperature and resist the beating of the War drums that is being sounded louder and louder each hour. Trump is under enormous pressure from the Neocons and the Dems to escalate tensions between our two countries. Trump says no. He is keeping it calm while others are losing their heads. Pooh-poohing the Intel reports is buying him time (and our intelligence more time) until he sits down with them man to man.
4) The fact is a real expert will tell ya we will never know for sure who it was if a good hacker has been in our systems. Operative word is GOOD hacker. They leave no trace, no fingerprints. We can say that it is likely, or conclude it is a reasonable assumption, or say our research points to……but cannot say with 100% certainty it was Russian State sponsored hackers. Russia has been trying to hack our systems for years, along with 100’s of likely suspects that have been successful. Over 1,000 attempts hit our systems daily, 7 days a week. False trails, false clues, dead end roads, intentional red herrings, false points of origins can and will be left behind, but a good hacker leaves no traceable verifiable trail behind.
For example, the FBI has said that Hillary’s private unauthorized server (after investigating the damage her unlawful actions and carelessness might have caused the gov’t) had a 99% chance of certainty that 5 different sources (foreign) got in her private server while she was Sec of State. The FBI or CIA would be fools to announce publicly who got in, where they went from her server into other State Department systems,, and what files they read. 99% certainty but cannot say definitely who..where, what….Why? Because only possible clues, but no fingerprints left behind.
5) The Russians are known for breaking into systems, laying low, and just reading stuff, not taking. Like installing a surveillance camera if you will. The Chinese are known for going into systems with a vacumn hose and sucking up everything including the kitchen sink…generally speaking. The N. Koreans are known for getting in to wreck havoc, etc.
6). Summary. Trump is resisting efforts to bash Russia. He knows full well nobody can say with 100% certainly it was the Kremlin. Could of been, might be…but absolutely for sure?
The DNC “hacks” were of private citizens (including Hillary at the time) and it is not the government’s job or responsibility to provide or maintain internet security for them. Who would ever think that Podesda would fall for a freshman bonehead computer class phishing scam?
Hacking into our government systems does not appear to be the issue here. Wikileaks is the issue. Wikileaks has not released any e-mails of Hillary while she was Sec of State or any US gov’t secured files that I am aware of. Speaking solely of the Wikileaks in question, not leaks prior to the election cycle.
My instinct is that multiple outside sources got into Hillary’s private e-mail server while she was at State. My instincts say several outside sources have got into our Government systems for years, unrelated to Hillary. And I believe there were multiple attempts from multiple sources that tried to get into the DNC and Clinton Campaign computers and more than one different outside sources were successful. The various attempts to get into the RNC and Trumps’s personal accounts were rebuffed by good security practices and protections. You leave an open door and who knows who can come waltzing on in.
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Re: update VHD. 18 months ago.
http://poorrichardsnews.com/of-course-nancy-pelosis-district-is-exempt-from/
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Video at the link.
And I won’t ask you to think of Thrush as a Democratic operative with a byline, because that’s simply what he is.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/01/04/chris_plante_journalists_exposed_by_wikileaks_are_now_covering_trump.html
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Hey Paul…..was this the kind of “fun” you were thinking of? Trump hasn’t even taken office and Chip is on the verge of a meltdown…..
PS: Has anybody ever seen “Chip”…..or his he somebodies imaginary playmate?
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Fish @ 7:31 am
Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Video sheds more light on journalism school professors and the phrase “award winning journalist”, albeit in a unflattering expose 🙂
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Re: Uncle Sam and Mother Russia. Looks like Trump may be our only hope to avoid Cold War 2. It’s my hope and it’s George Soros’s nightmare. Leading from behind just won’t cut it.
http://buchanan.org/blog/can-trump-putin-avert-cold-war-ii-126354
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Fish. If it’s the same one, he’s got a letter to the Editor in today’s paper.
It looks like he out to start a bitch on CCW holders in the county.
“Does The Union ever plan a story to see how many concealed weapons permits our sheriff has seen fit to issue in our county? What are the parameters for getting a permit to carry a loaded gun around? Does he do a background check? Is there a records check to see if they have a criminal record? What’s the waiting period?
Chip Wilder
No “Chip”,, they hand them out like candy….
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Trump is about to flip sides on Russian hacking. I’m posting this to get Todd, Gregory Bill, Walt and Fish time to come out with new positions on Russian hacking after stating that they believed Assange rather than US intel. Here’s the latest from the Trumpster
“The dishonest media likes saying that I am in Agreement with Julian Assange – wrong. I simply state what he states, it is for the people 7o make up their own minds as to the truth. The media lies to make it look like I am against “Intelligence” when in fact I am a big fan!”
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Try again Paul. NO new evidence comes out of today’s hearing.
Besides… YOU owe me a few answers. See my 9:27 above.
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Wow Paul, that is quite the stretch! Your interpretations of someone’s words cements our view that you and your fellow journalists peddle “fake news”.
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Chuck E. Cheese Schumer is sure talking tough. That just might come back to bite.
Every one who has picked a fight with “The Don” has lost, and in an embarrassing way.
Trump has already given Schumer a new title. “Head Clown”. Just as Hillary and Jeb how their “fights” with Trump worked out.
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Walt 911am – Our designated reader frequently sends me notice of when the FUE again takes RR/me to task. In reading those screeds I notice that ‘Chip Wilder’ stands out as a regular echo in the sparse comment streams. I also noticed his letter in today’s Union. There he unambiguously reveals himself to be a man possibly concerned but most certainly abysmally ignorant. His histrionic queries for all to see can be answered by a simple phone call to the sheriff’s office. Mr fish’s 752am question is of interest more in the sense of how many of these “playmates” populate those pages.
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I was doing you a favor Todd, giving you a heads up on Trumps upcoming flip so you can come up with a graceful retraction of your support for Assange over US intel.
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Don’t see a 9:27 Walt
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This guy Trump is seriously delusional. Here’s the latest
“On Wednesday, he used his favorite medium, Twitter, to address his low-wattage docket of performers by pumping up the cred of one singer who is scheduled to sing, former “America’s Got Talent” contestant Jackie Evancho.
Only Trump’s claims that Evancho’s “album sales have skyrocketed after announcing her inauguration performance” are being called into question. Especially in cause and effect.
Vanity Fair noted that the 16-year-old Evancho’s latest offering is a Christmas album, so it stands to reason that sales would increase as the holiday approached.
The Christmas album, released Oct. 28, sold 6,000 copies in the chart week ending Dec. 15. Sales then increased to 11,000 the next charting period ending Dec. 22. Then they dipped to 8,000 the week after”
Skyrocket Trump? This guy has a serious ego problem.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-jackie-evancho_us_586e2001e4b0c56eb4b727d8
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Dr.R. I got the paperwork from the Sheriff for a CCW. It was about 15 pages, and has plenty of “You can’t get one if…”
Time will tell if ol’ “chip” gets any traction. Right now, he looks foolish.
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Poor Paul.. Can’t even scroll up the thread to “9:27” from last night. Since you say you don’t smoke dope, what’s your excuse for not finding it? TROLLING again? Anyhow, just to help the digitally handicapped out, in response to YOUR 9:12…
HEER we go…. It sure doesn’t matter now, does it? Just more burdens on society that the taxpayer will be footing the bill for. What’s the next drug on the list to legalize?
By your logic, people should be able to snort shoot or pop anything that floats their boat.
And that would be great just how?
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I was looking for today should have been more clear
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Trump is cracking me up. The intelligence community is threatening to quit if he argues with them any more. What a hoot!
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The question dodging continues from Paul.
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Paul, thanks for the heads up about a possible Trump flip on Intel. I doubt he will cry “Uncle” or change his tune.
One man’s opinion.
Walt, Paul could be right. Tomorrow Trump gets briefed. I don’t know until it happens. I am skeptial of anything that comes out of Obama Administration. Reference Loretta Lynch still looking for the motive of The Pulse massacre and ordering the FBI to withhold the 911 tapes, the WH pressuring the CIA to alter its finding on Benghazi (sins of omission of mentioning Al Queda and Intel warning prior to the attack) Obama saying that there is not one smidgen of corruption in the IRS only to have L. Lerner’s first words out of her mouth be “I plead the 5th”, Fast and Furious designed to achieve political advantage on gun control and the ensuring cover up), the cover up of the EPA over the Orange Julius and no charges filed or no one fired), etc., etc, etc. Yep, call me skeptical.
I hear the drumbeat already this morning. “Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” John McCain said “Every American should be ALARMED!!!!!”. Biggest threat to our Democracy. Really? I can think of much bigger threats to our democracy than messing with Podesda’s e-mails, lol. Like messing with the Constitution, first and foremost.
Yes, my partisanship tells me (beyond whether if it was Moscow or not, whether one believes it was the “KGB” or not)….tells me this story is being blown way out of proportion by the many powerful Trump haters….the MSM, The Dems, The Globalists, The WH, the Neo-cons, The EU, the RINO’s, Paul, …the predicable ones. That is my bias, based on distrust and dislike for the “other side”…like that guy who went to the White House 300 friggin times and paid homeless folks to start fist fights with Trump supporters in front of cameras…yep, I do not trust the scoundrels and neither did our Founding Fathers. 300 times? That is what I call collusion with Hillary’s campaign and the WH. I am very skeptical when politics is put before honesty and principles.
Bottom line: Nobody on the planet including Russia thought Trump would win. Hillary called Putin a Nazi, delegitimized his election, funded and instigated an uprising in Ukraine to overthrow the democratically elected President there and replace him with one of “our own”, yeah….Putin had a beef with Hillary. But I figure he was out to mess with her, to embarrass het, to mock her…..but (unless you believe the Russian intelligence was better than our pundits and knew something our election gurus and experts didn’t), then Russia involvement was mischievous at best”
Bigger Picture: what exactly should the response to Russia be? What would be the punishment to fit the crime?? After China stole 2.1 million US Government personnel files (including SS numbers, fingerprints, and background checks), what was the response? What is the punishment to fit the crime? Any diplomats expelled? Nope.
Moving forward, Trump is stuck with a cyperwar problem that the Obama Administration kicked down the road. That is a big problem that needs to be addressed with more than lip service. I am more concerned with cyperwarefare on our Gov’t and intellectual property than I am about releasing e-mails from laughable barely secured computers showing Clinton insiders mocking Catholics, Jews, Mexicans, Blacks, and people who work with their hands for a living. Cyper War is the the new reality. Trump needs to get it fixed.
Meanwhile, the Russian story will go on and on until every last drop of political smearing can be had. After all, it’s all the Losers have to hang on to.
If nothing else, the FBI probably had more effect on the election than any Podesta/CNN/Debbie Whatshetname hanky panky truthful inside looks..
“Liberal pundits Jonathan Alter and E. J. Dionne characterized the Clinton email lawbreaking and lies as “non-scandals.” Maybe in Chicago and Massachusetts, where they grew up. Not in the outstate Midwest.
Hints of Clinton’s general election weakness came in Democratic primaries, when she lost outstates badly in Wisconsin and Michigan and ran barely even in Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Maybe outstaters were voting not for Bernie Sanders’s socialism but against Hillary Clinton’s “damn emails.””
Blame the FBI….or them Midwestern values and concerns.
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Walt asks:
“What’s the next drug on the list to legalize?
By your logic, people should be able to snort shoot or pop anything that floats their boat.”
Let me start out by stating the ‘war on drugs” has been an expensive failure. I much prefer the Portugal approach that have decriminalized drug use to great effect. Drug overdose deaths in Portugal are the second-lowest in the European Union. I suggest you read this article for more information.
From the article “it’s very clear that decriminalization hasn’t had the severe consequences that its opponents predicted. As the Transform Drug Policy Institute says in its analysis of Portugal’s drug laws, “The reality is that Portugal’s drug situation has improved significantly in several key areas. Most notably, HIV infections and drug-related deaths have decreased, while the dramatic rise in use feared by some has failed to materialise.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/05/why-hardly-anyone-dies-from-a-drug-overdose-in-portugal/?utm_term=.e926764bd8cf
In the article you will see a graphic showing percent of drug deaths in Europe with Portugal, which has the strongest decriminalization policy with the second lowest death rate. George, you might be interested in knowing that Estonia is the second highest.
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Posted by: Paul Emery | 05 January 2017 at 09:20 AM
Trump is about to flip sides on Russian hacking. I’m posting this to get Todd, Gregory Bill, Walt and Fish time to come out with new positions on Russian hacking after stating that they believed Assange rather than US intel. Here’s the latest from the Trumpeter
No need to switch positions as I don’t believe I’ve come out definitively either way. I’m perfectly happy offering a mea culpa if after a thorough investigation it’s shown that Russians were involved.
No need for me to descend into a spastic episode of spittle flecked Emery like rage before all the facts are in.
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Gotta have a web page do your talking? Try squeezing out an opinion of your own making.
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The “war” on drugs has worked well. Look at all the drug dealers that killed each other. Keeps those thugs from recidivism. And all those dealwers murdering each other in Mexico is working as well. If only we could get more addicts the dealers would be even more likely to detroy each other.
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PaulE 1048am – Thanks for the heads up on Estonia, I knew that the country had a drug problem, but no idea of its magnitude (especially relative to Finland). Estonia has a large ethnic Russian population, and there is evidence that this cohort contributes the most because of cultural and proximity to source factors. Here’s more.
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