My friend Rifat Sonsino trying his hand(s) at milking a cow recently during a visit to a farm. I know for a fact he doesn’t want to do this for a living.
Many signs are pointing to a possible golden age for raw milk. With just a few exceptions, government assaults on American raw dairies appear to be receding, while state legislative initiatives broadening the availability of raw milk are popping up in states around the country.
From Hawaii to Massachusetts, including Montana, Illinois, and Iowa, legislators have put forth proposals to liberalize the availability of raw milk. (For details, go to Food Safety News, and do a search for “raw milk legislation.”)
So what’s going on? Are bureaucrats at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in hiding, avoiding provocative actions against raw dairy producers until they know more about who their new leaders in the Trump administration will be? Or are state legislators becoming less afraid to reduce regulation of small food producers, including producers of raw milk? Or is the new spate of raw milk legislative proposals merely a continuation of a trend well under way over the last ten years, of breaking down prohibitions against raw milk, and expanding availability?
I’m not sure we’ll have a clear answer any time soon. We know from past experience that just because legislation broadening raw milk availability is introduced and passes a committee or two, is no guarantee of passage—the Big Ag lobby has shown itself very capable of de-railing whatever legislation it wants. But one thing that is clear is that the spate of proposals to ease raw milk availability is being accompanied by big changes in the agricultural labor situation.
For any number of agricultural products, from avocados to nuts to oranges to spinach and lettuce, to dairy products, undocumented immigrants are a major component of the harvesting and distribution. What will happen to American agriculture when a significant part of its work force disappears as many thousands, perhaps millions, of immigrants, are sent packing to Mexico and other countries in Latin America?
Predictions run the gamut, from projections of a collapse in the food system to arguments that little of major consequence will occur (aside from farm worker wages going up and food prices following suit). For now, though, many in the food industry are very worried.
I find myself wondering if the immigrant expulsion isn’t simply a back-handed way for Trump to begin producing all those new jobs he promised during the campaign. Take all those menial food harvesting jobs, along with restaurant dish washing and hotel chambermaid and lawn maintenance jobs and turn them over to real American citizens. I guess you could make the pro argument in economic terms, except for the fact that such menial jobs have gone to immigrants for a simple reason: the wages tend to be lower than what American citizens will accept.
Will the dearth of bodies for those jobs force the wages up to a level American citizens will accept? Perhaps.
It turns out we’re not just debating some complete unknown—there is some history to inform in this realm. The last time such a seemingly logical process was tried, it failed miserably. It seems that America took a similar tack in the late 1920s, also to rid ourselves of perceived job poachers, in favor of “Americans first.” Here’s a description of the episode, and how it helped lead us into the Great Depression, from John Mauldin, a very astute and popular investment analyst, and Trump sympathizer:
“While I don’t think (please God) we are anywhere close to implementing a policy as draconian as Herbert Hoover’s was in the late 1920s, it would behoove us to remember his Mexican Repatriation, by which somewhere between 500,000 and 2 million American residents of Mexican ancestry were forcibly returned to Mexico. Many of these deportees were actually US citizens. And this was done without due process. I kid you not. By the way, this program was continued by Franklin D. Roosevelt for another four years. This program is a dark blot on American history, one that I think was even worse than the Japanese internment camps of World War II. The expulsion was carried out in the name of ‘protecting American jobs’ and putting America first; and then it was followed up with policies that were designed to make America productive again, including the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which was a contributing factor in the Great Depression…..
“America decided that the global production playing field was tilted against American interests and needed to be leveled. I don’t think anybody today would want to go back to the 1930s. Nobody wants another Great Depression. Again, let me remind you that FDR did not repeal Smoot-Hawley and continued many of Hoover’s destructive policies . There is plenty of bipartisan blame and shame to go around here.”
I know a lot of people here want me to simply write about raw milk trends, pure and simple. No screwing around with “politics” (as if all the pro-raw-milk legislative proposals aren’t “politics”). The problem is that the struggle for raw milk (and other food) rights is tied in to other issues of rights. As I have pointed out, raw dairies have long operated in a gray area of the law, much like many immigrants. In my view, we shouldn’t arbitrarily throw out immigrants any more than we should arbitrarily shut down raw dairies, based on narrow and rigid determinations of the law. Our legislators should be figuring out reasonable compromises on immigration, to the benefits of both immigrants and the American economy, just as they should be helping craft compromises that allow for freedom of access to the foods of our choice.
The influx of migrant workers into the US and Canada is designed longstanding cheap food policies.
Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) for example, “brings in 30,000 labourers annually from Mexico, Jamaica and other Caribbean countries to reap and sow its crops… As one Ontario greenhouse owner states, “SAWP is the lifeblood of our industry””.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/migrant-farm-workers-deserve-better/article31936582/
And why is SAWP the lifeblood of the labour intensive agriculture industry?
Because as I stated at the beginning, farmers and those they employ are kept under the yoke of national and international cheap food policies. As such migrant workers (in Canada that is), “are exempt from labour laws that govern minimum wage, overtime and rest periods”, yet the migrant workers “are required to pay employment insurance and pension-plan premiums, as well as income tax”.
Canada’s SAWP as stated in the above article, “allows workers to come into Canada on an eight-month contract and return to Canada annually, but does not permit family members to accompany them. Other farm workers come via the agricultural stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker program that allows migrants to stay in Canada for up to four years, then requires them to leave for at least two years, meaning they have to abandon their housing and social ties. Both programs require workers to stay with one employer and neither gives workers immigrant status, or a path to Canadian citizenship”.
Indeed, as Dr. Jenna Hennebry, director of the International Migrant Research Centre at Wilfrid Laurier University states, “These workers live in conditions most Canadians would not accept, often with no access to phone or transportation…”
Ken, I think you’ll find that much more significant factors in reducing food prices have been chemical fertilizers, automation, and, for meat, CAFOs and other such “manufacturing” techniques. The cheap migrant labor tends to be employed in picking fruit like cherries, citrus, and apples, along with lettuce, veggies, nuts and such, and milking cows. The growers are in competition with each other, as well as with imported crops picked by cheap labor.
If you’ve sold or bought dairy, you know that consumers are very price conscious. It’s their demands, and the forces of competition, that drive farmers to the lowest-priced labor.
Correction…The influx of migrant workers into the US and Canada is designed (to prop up) longstanding cheap food policies.
Include New Jersey in the list of states trying to legalize raw milk sales: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillView.asp?BillNumber=A696
I agree government policies geared at maintaining cheap food is an all-encompassing phenomenon that primarily reveals itself by way of tax brakes, subsidy programs and trade policies in the red meat and dairy industry… and in the case of the cash crop industry, government sponsored programs such as Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). When all is said and done farmers and their families still rely heavily on off farm income in order to provide for themselves… It’s a fact of life that many have become accustomed to and increasingly rely on.
David: Thanks for the history lesson! I had no idea that this had taken place. Manufacturing jobs will never come back, as humans are rapidly being replaced by robots, even in China. In food production, though, low-wage workers will always be necessary. I read a recent report that the largest garlic grower in Gilroy had raised the hourly rate from $10 to $15. They didn’t do this because they’re nice guys, but in an attempt to retain workers. Good news about raw milk legislation. On the other hand, in 30 states forced vaccination bills have been introduced at the same time that the most recent science has clearly shown how the aluminum adjuvants (in most pediatric vaccines) are the driver of the autism and auto-immune epidemic (J B Handley has an excellent article on this). Soon enough there won’t be workers to do any of the things we need them for, if pharma takes full control of the “public health” system. The new FDA guy sounds dangerous, but hopefully Dr. Price at HHS will drain the cesspool at CDC.
I don’t think that even if the wages go up for picking lettuce, mowing lawns, cutting up animals, washing dishes, etc. that most Americans would take the jobs. It’s grueling work that many now eschew.
In Europe, where we do not have access to low salaried labour, we have milking robots. But they are very expensive. However, the milking robots make it possible for family farmers to keep their dairy, and get a less strenous life, where it is not 16 hour days 7 days a week. I have worked on large scale dairies in California and Washington. Sometimes I had American students helping me. They were quiet worthless, and could not survive many hours in those hard working conditions. Americans are not willing to get their hands dirty, roughened, sun scorched, and backs bent. Americans have grown too soft for that. Therefore I think that the current administration will be forced to back down from their nationalistic egocentric plans.
Cat, thanks for sharing about the European experience. Robots the ultimate solution in so many industries today, no reason farming should be different, I suppose. You may be right, that the current administration will back down on migrants, once people realize what will happen to their cheap food. Much like administration backing down on Obama Care, now that 22 million people realize they could lose their health insurance, and are complaining.
Cat, sad truth you speak that Americans have grown soft. Particularly in cities where there is such a huge disconnect with where food actually comes from, and little knowledge of the issues encountered in food production and distribution. But if this administrations focus on national issues shines a light on that its a good thing. This where the people, not a government, need to be the driving force; it’s parents and educators that need to see this reality and start to value a hard days work instead of passing out stars just for showing up.
You know, if the rationale you describe were the administration’s rationale, I could feel much better about it. But its rationale is racially and ethnically based–get Mexicans and other Latinos the hell out of the U.S. so it can be a more white Christian country. It’s the same as with the immigration limitation–keep Muslims out. Just hope you aren’t part of any minority, because this administration has a list, and has only begun working its way down that list.
Prove it. Facts and cites, please.
Cheesemaker, when you or your family has been officially targeted because you’re a member of a religious, racial, or ethnic minority, you develop a sixth sense about what’s on the horizon. It’s difficult for someone who never has been targeted to take such things seriously. But here is one list demonstrating Trump’s disdain for various minorities, which keeps that sixth sense very active:
Blacks:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-governments-racial-bias-case-against-donald-trumps-company-and-how-he-fought-it/2016/01/23/fb90163e-bfbe-11e5-bcda-62a36b394160_story.html?utm_term=.e490ebb2f42d
Muslims:
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-statement-on-preventing-muslim-immigration
Mexicans:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-keeps-up-attacks-on-judge-gonzalo-curiel-1464911442
Jews:
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/white-house-holocaust-jews-234572
Now, less than 100 days into his administration, he’s taken specific actions that target, and penalize, Muslims (immigration order) and Mexicans (deportation orders). As I said, he’s working his way through and down his list.
The illegal, undocumented workers are simply here illegally and breaking the law by being here. In addition, they are breaking the law by working illegally as well. They are not paying taxes. As a result, they should face consequences for breaking the law. That is simple justice and equally. Equality is being equally subject to the law. It is NOT showing favoritism to illegal, undocumented workers. Yes, their wages may be cheaper, but they are not paying taxes. Trump plans to lower taxes. That should help balance things so the farmers can hire people legally at a higher wage and their profits not get crushed paying a higher salary. That can help with creating more equality in the workforce and help raise wages. To put it another way, Americans won’t compete with illegals for their jobs here when the illegals are gone.
Once upon a time there was a young chick who was sitting by an oak tree when an acorn fell from the tree, striking the young chick on the top of his head. The young chick looked up and perceived this event as a sign that the sky was falling. The young chick, whose name was Chicken Little, decided that he must run to the castle to tell the King that the sky is falling.
Chicken Little rallies many of his unemployed animal friends and together, they embark upon a journey to the castle to see the King. (As a side note, Chicken Little and all of his friends were progressive Democrats. They decided to call themselves the snowflake gang).
On the road to the castle, Chicken Little and the snowflake gang happened upon a fox, who was sitting on a nearby rock. The fox inquires as to the reason for the snowflake gang’s journey to see the King. Chicken Little informs the fox that they are headed to the castle to hold up signs, shout out slogans, and jump up and down in fits of uncontrolled emotion in attempt to tell the King that the sky is falling.
Henny Penny, one of the members of the snowflake gang, who was also a chicken, told the fox that he was going to the castle to hold up a sign indicating that he thought of himself as a duck and that he had a right to be a duck. Another one of the snowflake gang told the fox that something needed to be done to stop the sky from falling and that if a chicken wants to call himself a duck, dress like a duck and quack like a duck, that the King should mandate that the rest of the people call the chicken a duck.
Upon telling the fox that they were all on their way to see the King to inform the King that the sky is falling and to otherwise protest about life in general, including a protest that a chicken had a right to call himself a duck, the fox invited Chicken Little and his group into the fox’s lair for refreshment.
Chicken Little and his group enter the fox’s lair. The fox closes the entry way behind them and promptly eats the entire group.
The fox doing the King’s “military operation,” I suppose.
No. Actually, more like lemmings marching to their own self-imposed demise.
Something else I just came across on the possible implications on agriculture:
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/02/trumps-immigration-crackdown-could-destroy-the-us-agriculture-industry
Someone has to pay the piper David; heaven forbid if consumers in the United States and Canada have to dish out a little more of their disposable income for food! They certainly seem to be in a position where they can more then afford to do so…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/23/disposable-income-map_n_6924568.html
This second article by “International Buisiness Times” points out that, “U.S. residents spent on average about $2,273, or about 6.4 percent of their annual consumer expenditures, on food in 2012, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)… As a percentage of consumer expenditures, that is less than any of the 83 other countries for which the USDA tracks data”.
http://www.ibtimes.com/us-spends-less-food-any-other-country-world-maps-1546945
The so-called experts in the Vanty fair article that suggest, “trump’s immigration crackdown could destroy the U.S. agriculture industry” is fear mongering at best.
As it is, the agricultural industry is already in a downward spiral thanks to cheap food policies that cater to the industrialization of agriculture that in turn exploits foreign workers, undermines the integrity of the soil, and unnaturally manipulates crops and farm animals.
As Gayle correctly pointed out, “Americans have become comfortable with looking the other way when it suits”… their selfish desire for cheap food.
I would tend to think that if the republican crackdown on illegal immigrants does result in higher food prices, then that might very well spell the end of Trump and his administration… Americans like their cheap food. Time will tell.
Good points. As you well know, I’ve never been a defender of the “cheap food” paradigm. I was trying to make the point, and may not have made it as well as I should, that at a time when we’re seeing signs of expanded food freedom, a major part of our food system could be unnecessarily disrupted. There’s no urgency associated with deporting Mexicans, except if you want to demonize Mexicans and other immigrants, and besides, you’ll unnecessarily create serious problems for many businesses and ordinary consumers.
Just handing everyone in America, no matter where they came from, a Guaranteed Basic Income which is high enough to live comfortably on would solve ALL contentions over jobs AND force employers to pay their workers REAL money. Tax THE RICH to fund it. They have the $$.
i live in N California and know white people who have given up trying to pick grapes and pears – and yes, even walnuts, our 3 main crops in this county. They actually tried in an effort to earn some $$$ (these illegals don’t get minimum wage in effect here) AND to learn about food, farming, growing, nature…
The illegals stated that they would have no labor force if the farmers hired white workers. The Mexicans would boycott and sabotage that vineyard or operation. The labor force for ag has almost always been economically desperate – look at Grapes of Wrath as the hottest years ever recorded (Dust Bowl/Drought in the 30s) uprooted thousands and provided a labor pool in other areas…
It would just be much more intelligent from every non-“elitist” corporate consolidation type of individual, to get into permaculture, small crop/gardening, and orchards/tree guilds. Then you aren’t trying to milk a thousand cows – you can do your own cows or goats. You don’t need to pick for thousands of people – but you can pick for your family and dozens of others without getting out of scale – and if you do manage to (or decide to) build on your successes and increase your production, you can generally get local people who are desperate to learn about growing their own foods.
Maybe we are ahead of the curve again out here in Calif – but we have interns and woofers who desperately want to learn what you can teach them in exchange for very little. That means you can double or triple your production relatively easily if you chose.
Small scale and local – it is the only way the planet is going to survive.
go read the facts about saint Cezar Chavez, and educate you-self about the difference between how he really acted, versus the myth. Senor Chavez was happy to have “undocumented workers” deported by the US feds. when it served his purposes of personal aggrandizement. Every one of the usual thug tactics of the commies, was carried out by his brother and others so Cesar Chavez and his white race-traitor pals could disclaim involvement.
40 million unborn children were murdered over the last 40 years by artificial abortion. If those people were here, now, … we would have no problem with non-whites invading America
until one acknowledges that there’s a race war going for the territory of the US of A, you cannot begin to address the issue of invasion of the 3rd world.
“the wages tend to be lower than what American citizens will accept”.
That’s ok then, the labor rate will increase. Too bad they’ve been taking advantage of folks willingness to accept less.
Remember this? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-turow/you-need-to-know-the-slavery-conditions-on-tomato-farms_b_6735842.html
If prices get too high, folks will start growing their own food or finding a farmer. Right? Yeah for our team!
Also, it’s my understanding that folks can come with special work visas. I worked for a landscaping company, and they got seasonal labor from Mexico as well…all documented.
Well damn if American kids might have to join the workforce as they have on most family owned farms almost forever. Who would want Dean’s FRESH milk anyway???
As for the migrant workers, you are correct in that they are mainly here for plant-based harvests, but even there, there is much work to be done. And, there won’t necessarily be that many fewer, as they tend to come in legally for the work season, and leave when their VISA expires.
Given the actual number of deportations as well as detentions, one would think that people would have been vilifying Obama and Billy Boy Clinton rather than Trump – I guess it depends on whose numbers one chooses to believe. Read 10 different sources, get 30 different numbers. I work in a store (one location of a huge multi-national corporation) with MANY nationalities of immigrants, the largest number of whom are from Mexico.
Despite being “a huge concern” many of us have gotten close in the past few years, and we all talk. Not one bothered with the so-called “Day Without Immigrants”, many voted for and continue to support the current administration, none fear deportation, detention or anything else. Stop watching MSNBC and start talking to your neighbors and co-workers folks. And this for the suburbs of one of the top 3 most notorious “sanctuary cities” in the nation – Chicago. Go figure.
The (any) movement toward healthier food options must be accompanied by something our fellow countrymen have completely forgotten how to do – self-motivation. We must be willing to do the work as well as pay a fair price. Both ideas are largely missing from the American lexicon – and it’s been getting worse with each ensuing decade since the end of WWII.
I don’t care to consume raw milk, salad or any other food handled by illegals who have hd no health examinations and may carry any number of communicable diseases including drug resistant TB which may be contagious to cows.
The major factor in the rise of CAFO’s is the availability of cheap illegal labor.
Good work President Trump!
Major factor in rise of CAFOs is lobbying of Big Ag, which allows CAFOs to operate free of any environmental restrictions.
I agree with you 100% on this comment. You should stay in this arena where you have credibility. Your politics is just your opinion.
Perhaps some of the labor challenges are caused by the “get big or get out” way of thinking. In Gene Logsdon’s last book entitled Letter to a Young Farmer: How to Live Richly without Wealth on the New Garden Farm he argues “get small and stay in”.
Another approach to farming is to design a system where as much as possible the animals do the work. A pasture based farming system does this to a large extent. The livestock harvest, pack on the pounds to become food for people, and spread fertilizer over the land. Avoid the use of tractors and machinery as much as possible. A movable electric fence is the “steering wheel” in a well-designed pastured based farming system. Now contrast that system with a CAFO.
Agree with you, Joseph. Joel Salatin and a number of his disciples are excellent examples of what you describe.
I should add that in a pasture based farming system that the animals happily do the work. Animals truly enjoy moving to fresh pasture.
Further advantages include enhancing the nutritional quality of meat, milk, and eggs and at the same time building soil fertility.
Reference: Heckman, J.R. 2015. The Role of Trees and Pastures in Organic Agriculture. Sustainable Agriculture Research. 4: 47-55. http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/sar/article/view/50105
Joseph,
I couldn’t agree more with you and Gene Logsdon …
My father was a proponent of that “get big or get out” way of thinking. Indeed, a way of thinking that is influenced in large part by a government proclaimed, “improved efficiency doctrine” that promotes increasing the size of farm operations in order to become more efficient… And guess whom those “tax brakes, subsidy programs and trade policies that I mentioned above tend to cater to?
As I’ve queried on a number of occasions… “How much more efficient can we realistically be expected to get and where does one draw the line?”
I’ve been farming most of my life (55+ years) and I can say with certainty that the situation is not improving… especially where I live in the province of Ontario where the current liberal government recently introduced a Cap and Trade and carbon tax that came into effect as of January,1st of this year.
More then ever and based on ongoing erratic farm gate prices that fail to keep pace with increasing input cost; if one makes the decision to “get small and stay in” then they have little other option but to establish a reliable source of off farm income. And based on current government regulations that restrict the direct sale of produce to consumers, and taxes that eat into the consumers’ wallet, engaging in private sales is a risky and challenging endeavour.
Lets fight deportation because we need all that cheap labor. Americans have become comfortable with looking the other way when it suits. Ignoring the exploitation of immigrants on one hand (somebodies gotta pick the fruit) yet raising a fist for their advocacy with the other (but we have to keep our slave workers in the US) is rather duplicitous. One thing a shortage of immigrant labor might do is force Americans to actually think about commercial mass production of food, and see thats it not working very well for the American people, immigrants, or the planet.
Check out Canadian Jean-Martin Fortier book The Market Gardener, A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small-Scale Organic Farming. He recently gave an excellent presentation about his organic farm at our Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA)conference. He describes a ten acre intensive organic farm that uses no tractors but rather innovative use of hand tools and planting techniques to achieve a high level of productivity for a profitable family run enterprise. His is a nice example of “get small and stay in” in the real world of vegetable production. He credits the pioneering works of Eliot Coleman, organic vegetable farmer in Maine, for many ideas.
I think what Jean-Martin Fortier, Eliot Coleman, and the many other successful organic vegetable growers (most of which do not write books) in the eastern North America demonstrate that is that we could produce a lot more of our plant foods locally without so much reliance on imports from California.
The good news is that more young people are being inspired by these examples. I see many of them in the classes I teach at Rutgers.
Thanks for sharing this JHeckman, it’s encouraging to hear of young people recognizing the benefits and feasibility of locally produced food! Perhaps in all the political noise out there more people than we realize are just quietly living the change. Too busy doing it to write about or publicize it?
Cheese Maker’s response to one of David’s comments, above, regarding Gumpert’s contention that Trump’s administration is coming after all minorities, all ethnic groups and all religious groups —
“Prove it. Facts and cites, please.”
Below is Mr. Gumpert’s “proof” for his “sky is falling” post:
ONE —
Article from Washington Compost written by Michael Kranish — This article is nothing but a hit piece, fake news at its finest (or lowest). Kranish puts forth nothing but innuendo and illogical leaps of rationale in this piece and does not prove anything with facts. Total BS.
TWO —
Article from WSJ written by Brent Kendall — another hit piece full of unsubstantiated BS and biased inferences that only a trash rag Fake News outlet like the WSJ could pen against Trump. Total BS.
THREE —
Article from Politico — do I need to say more? Hit piece, fake news. Michael Crowley, one of the authors, got most of his experience from CBS, CNN, NPR, PBS and MSNBC. Wow, more absolute bull caca replete with illogical connections and guild by inference statements. Totally biased, totally “Fake News” and total BS.
FOUR —
Trump press release on Muslim Immigration from Dec. 7, 2015 — I agree with him on this one as does likely all the other deplorables on here if they care to go read what it says. How does this statement morph into storm troopers coming after everybody?
CONCLUSION —
Come on, Mr. Gumpert. Please get off of this hysteria. I would refer you to the parable of Chicken Little, recited above.
Gee, I don’t think even Trump would deny that he was charged with discriminating against blacks in his apartment buildings and entered into an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to discontinue the practice. Nor do I think Trump would deny he went after the judge of Mexican descent–it’s right there in his Twitter posts. Nor that his statement about Holocaust Remembrance Day didn’t mention Jews–it’s right there in black and white. Those links are some of the many that document the events. You’re the one who sounds hysterical, sorry to say. Everything that doesn’t fit into your theory of the world is “fake news.” Albert Einstein said it best: “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.”
P.S. I never said Trump was coming after “all minorities, all ethnic groups and all religious groups.” I said I believe he has a list that is comprised of at least four groups, which I listed (Muslims, Mexicans, blacks, Jews), and documented his prejudiced statements or behavior.
Okay, if you want to keep this up, here goes.
Yes, the Trumps were sued by the government back in 1973 facing allegations of violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 would have still been in its infancy in 1973 if you factor in typical government timelines. Donald Trump was 27 at the time and was coming up in his father’s real estate business. What you conveniently leave out of your diatribe is that the Trumps countersued the government for $100 million in damages. Ultimately the case was settled without any finding of fact that the Trumps indeed systematically utilized any discriminatory practices.
Yes, Trump did “go after” Judge Gonzalo Curiel in the sense that Judge Curiel was overstepping his bounds as a judge who was presiding over a class action lawsuit against Trump University. Trump called Curiel a “hater” of Trump and believed that the judge was totally unfair in his handling of Trump’s case. You go after Trump. Trump goes after you. Pretty simple, actually.
The Holocaust issue. You don’t want to listen to the White House’s explanation for this, right? That the State Department’s version of the statement did not come in before the 7 pm deadline for copy. In the White House’s version of the statement, the White House stated that it did not intend to marginalize Jewish victims of the Holocaust. However, that’s not good enough for you, is it. You want to metaphorically douse him with lighter fluid and set him on fire for an oversight. Had Obama made the same oversight, you and all the MSM nut jobs would have been fine with it.
What a double standard you live by, Mr. G.
As you stated yourself and back at you, “If the facts don’t fit your theory, change the facts.” You are guilty of this by omission.
Thanks for helping make my point: We are now being governed by a group of white nationalists. Their core belief of white Christian supremacy drives them to demonize and scapegoat racial and religious minorities, American and foreign. As a result, the brief list of insults, abuses, and legal violations we have reviewed here should be taken as the beginning of an ongoing campaign, rather than any sort of oversight or carelessness (the Holocaust statement could easily have been revised if the intent to do it differently was there). We’ve seen this movie before. Those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it.
the presumption that the Republic of the united States of America is for white folks, is as written in the pre-amble to its very Constitution
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to OURSELVES AND OUR POSTERITY, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
couldn’t be any clearer in the English language… If your values are antithetical to that bedrock premise of the nation, then who’s out of sync?
David,
I am amazed at your patience!
Mary Jean, thank you very much. That’s the nicest compliment I’ve had in a long time.
‘President Trump is prejudiced against Jews’ ? Pardon me? ! … you have completely lost touch with the reality of what’s going on in Washington DC. Surrounding Trump are numerous members of that particular ethnicity. Start with his son-in-law. What white Christians want to know, is : ‘is the allegiance of those people, to America, or to the Israeli state?’ : Jesus Christ said “no man can serve 2 masters”.
Funny how no one wants open immigration for high-paying professional jobs. These highly paid elitists win both ways: they get cheap slave labor for construction, hospitality & farming/ranching, & they also get to make the rest of us chumps in-between pay top-dollar for their “services.”
Oh well, don’t worry, our economy has evolved from mfr to svc & finally into the unemployment age, which is not sustainable(we’ll never get to 100% robots). When the derivates market makes the dollar totally worthless & commercial farms turn off the spigot, you all better have your own farm & milk your own cows etc(& have high-powered machine guns) cuz the city-dwellers will come rushing for your food(empty supermarkets).
David,
Nerves of steel….a heart filled with tolerance and patience. I am proud of you.
I am still in wonder as to why you allow these negative voices to speak here?
You are a man of conscience, truth, compassion, and humanity. I am shocked by the ignorance, tone and content of so many of these comments.
New immigrants legal or not feed Americans. We have tried so many times to hire unemployed none Hispanics to do the hard work found in agricultural. It does not work….they injure themselves, can not tolerate heat or cold or 10 hours of physical work. They have bad attitudes, have no skills to use hand tools. They bruised the fruit..they complained and quit. Their work ethic was non existent. Their physical strength, motivation and ability was non existent.
We paid excellent wages…..it did not matter. Those that judge farmers and farm laborers need to work a week in the fields before making a comment here. You do not have a clue about reality. Not a clue…
You would fail miserably in farming….your work mans comp insurance would be cancelled in a month because your workers would all be injured and make a claim. You would not be able to get it reinstated at any price. Your voices are empty and ignorant. Thank you David for speaking some truth about a critical and relevant topic. As for the rest of you….before you take another bite of food….go work a day in the fields or on that dairy and see what it took to put that food on your plate. Talk is easy….labor is not. You would also be the very first to complain about increases in food costs.
Thank you, Mark. Your recollection reminds me of a Chinese film I saw about Mao’s Cultural Revolution of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Part of that upheaval involved forcing young urban intellectuals to work on collective farms. It was a huge failure, in part because of the dynamics you describe. The urban middle class not only was ill-prepared to do the tough manual labor of working in the fields, but saw the work as beneath their dignity. Of course, that wasn’t the only problem with Mao’s huge purge–untold millions died in the process.
Mark, you’ve made a number of generalizations about individuals you know little about. Who are you to judge in suggesting that those who comment here, “do not have a clue about reality” and that their “voices are empty and Ignorant”.
If you do not like Trump then perhaps you should immigrate to Northern Canada and get a taste of what it’s like to manage and milk a herd of cows, day in and out during the middle of winter when it is 30-40 degrees below zero…
I moved to the farm when I was 6 years of age after my grandfather passed away. I started milking cows off and on when I was eight and I was helping to fork shit into a litter carrier at around the same time. Although I can’t remember exactly when I started to help with haying during the summer; I do remember however, that I could only pile the bales of hay on the wagon 3 tiers high, then my dad would have to stop the tractor and baler and re-pile those bales to seven or eight tiers in order to complete the load. By the time my brother and I were in our mid teens we were working 14+ hour days during the summer hauling in and piling up to 30,000 bales of hay per year in the barns… and milking cows twice a day to boot. When our work was done at the end of the day or at the end of the season we were sent next door to help the neighbour who was a bachelor and worked alone. Complaining or saying “no” was not an option unless we were prepared to get a good swift kick in the ass. I still have vivid memories of my dad dragging us out of bed at 5:30 in the morning to milk the cows before breakfast and heading off on the bus to school. Try and do that in this North American climate of self-righteous bleeding heart socialists?
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/debate-rages-after-saskatchewan-bans-kids-from-working-on-family-farm
I must have been a glutton for punishment because after I graduated from the University of Guelph in 1975 I returned to the farm and have been there ever since… thanks to off-farm income.
it grates severely to see you = Mark McAffee = confound the issues of raw milk with your crypto-communism. Particularly – your race-bating when it comes to the invasion of America by 3rd world hordes with their barbaric cultures. On the topic of REAL MILK, you were one of the world’s experts. But the ignorance you displayed on this forum over the last half year – polluting it with your in-sanity about law-less-ness, ruined that reputation. The US of A had a peaceful transition of government, which is one of its crowning achievements of white, Christian nations. Yet you sided with thugs rioting in the streets, attempting to extort those who participated in the process. From what I see on this forum, you’re so far-gone in your Chauvinism, it will take an incident where you get shouted-down by masked idiots threatening your personal safety, before you figure out what “free speech” when it comes to criticism of multi-cultural-ism. Does Organic Pastures sell much raw milk in Compton California? I thought not. A stroll through its downtown some night, will educate you quicker than anything else about the joys of “diversity”. You sit out there in the valley, nice and safe and isolated in your gated community, meanwhile white folks who are forced to live cheek-by-jow with people of VERY different moires – dictated by federal blockbusting policy – don’t have that luxury.
as for your remark “Your voices are empty and ignorant.” … see if you can muster the intellectual integrity to admit that, BY FAR, contributors to this forum have a very different take who’s best to be President. Old Bucky Fuller taught me that “human beings can learn at any age”. So there’s still hope for you .. but I am pessimistic. Since your own argument is : there are 2 different strains of DNA, ie. you were born that way / a prisoner of your genetic disposition
as for the crux of the immigration issue : a 100 years’ experience in British Columbia proves precisely what critics of mass immigration predicted – pre First World War. Vancouver BC is now 50 % Chinese, by actual federal census. That displacement of the white population happened in less than 30 years. Largely, because non-white newcomers underbid white workers.
as for your charge “You would also be the very first to complain about increases in food costs” … I am on record for the last 15 years, having campaigned for REAL MILK to be priced according to its genuine nutritional value. The success of Home on the Range Cowshare in BC. was predicated on me pronouncing ( Day One May 2007 when I started it) that the agister had to get paid properly in order for it to continue as more than a labor of love. Before that cowshare shut down, its members payed $5 Cdn per quart, for the best milk in the world, delivered to the Big City, in recycle-able glass. It served 500+ households, and they were happy to pay that price because they were confident they were getting good value for money
when it came to REAL MILK, you were brilliant as an educator and innovator. Which is why it’s so disgusting watching Mark McAffee’s reputation go into the toilet, for the sake of you giving yourself permission to thrash-around spewing your moronic take on partisan politics. A laughable example : if you think that white Christians give a rat’sass about Meryl Streep’s political opinion, think again. She may be a demi-goddess to you, but to right-thinking people, she’s nothing but a courtesan with a peculiar, very limited, talent. Trump won because he tuned-in to the FACT that Americans despise what’s called “the media”, who have betrayed the nation. Poor you = still hooked on the Kool-Aid spewed out of the propaganda mill in Holllyweird.
Americans voted in Donald Trump because they resent their cities being turned into multi-cult messes. || Take Detroit, please. I rest my case. || As the Trump administration responds to the will of the People … that’d be WHITE PEOPLE … and enforces the law [ what a concept!! ] the MILLIONS of ILLEGAL workers, of all nationalities, will flee back to their homelands, abandoning the McJobs / stoop labor, there certainly will be contrived shortages of foodstuffs, resulting in higher prices. One thing we do know for sure + The free market will prevail, as it always does, then prices + wages will go to the level they ought to be. After 20 years at it, I’ve determined that a gallon of REAL MILK is worth one silver dollar. As the spot price of silver heads for its next peak – probably around $80 US per ounce – you’d better keep your price in line with that rule-of-thumb, or you’ll be cheating yourself out of your own capital as inflation screams upward
Trying to figure out the hysteria infecting many here, and elsewhere…..I came across the transcript of a recent lecture given by a WSJ columnist, Brett Stephens, in honor of a WSJ colleague killed several years ago by terrorists in Pakistan (Daniel Pearl). I have never cared for Stephens’ views, because they are pretty conservative compared to where I stand. But he is clearly going through the agony of many journalists, in trying to make sense of the hysteria surrounding Trump, including the attacks on journalists. I think Stephens does an excellent job of explaining it. (Full text of the talk has been posted on the Time site: http://time.com/4675860/donald-trump-fake-news-attacks/
“I’ve become suddenly unpopular among some of my former fans on the right—again, because I’ve stuck to my views. It is almost amusing to be accused of suffering from something called ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ simply because I feel an obligation to raise my voice against, say, the president suggesting a moral equivalency between the U.S. and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
“The most painful aspect of this has been to watch people I previously considered thoughtful and principled conservatives give themselves over to a species of illiberal politics from which I once thought they were immune.
“In his 1953 masterpiece, ‘The Captive Mind,’ the Polish poet and dissident Czeslaw Milosz analyzed the psychological and intellectual pathways through which some of his former colleagues in Poland’s post-war Communist regime allowed themselves to be converted into ardent Stalinists. In none of the cases that Milosz analyzed was coercion the main reason for the conversion.
“They wanted to believe. They were willing to adapt. They thought they could do more good from the inside. They convinced themselves that their former principles didn’t fit with the march of history, or that to hold fast to one’s beliefs was a sign of priggishness and pig-headedness. They felt that to reject the new order of things was to relegate themselves to irrelevance and oblivion. They mocked their former friends who refused to join the new order as morally vain reactionaries. They convinced themselves that, brutal and capricious as Stalinism might be, it couldn’t possibly be worse than the exploitative capitalism of the West.
“I fear we are witnessing a similar process unfold among many conservative intellectuals on the right. It has been stunning to watch a movement that once believed in the benefits of free trade and free enterprise merrily give itself over to a champion of protectionism whose economic instincts recall the corporatism of 1930s Italy or 1950s Argentina. It is no less stunning to watch people who once mocked Obama for being too soft on Russia suddenly discover the virtues of Trump’s “pragmatism” on the subject.
“And it is nothing short of amazing to watch the party of onetime moral majoritarians, who spent a decade fulminating about Bill Clinton’s sexual habits, suddenly find complete comfort with the idea that character and temperament are irrelevant qualifications for high office.
“The mental pathways by which the new Trumpian conservatives have made their peace with their new political master aren’t so different from Milosz’s former colleagues.
“There’s the same desperate desire for political influence; the same belief that Trump represents a historical force to which they ought to belong; the same willingness to bend or discard principles they once considered sacred; the same fear of seeming out-of-touch with the mood of the public; the same tendency to look the other way at comments or actions that they cannot possibly justify; the same belief that you do more good by joining than by opposing; the same Manichean belief that, if Hillary Clinton had been elected, the United States would have all-but ended as a country.
“This is supposed to be the road of pragmatism, of turning lemons into lemonade. I would counter that it’s the road of ignominy, of hitching a ride with a drunk driver.”
David, This highly charged emotional hysteria with respect to Trump is a form of “future shock” if you will as in too much unexpected change in too short a period of time…
I tend to side with Robert F Kennedy Jr. positive yet reserved
objective analysis of Trump…
Wow. Gone for a couple of days, and look at this.
I’m sorry David, but your rambling disconnected attempt to shame us dumb right wing hick deplorables into submission only proves a point. Forgive me, but I will have to quote Rush Limbaugh here. On the subject of liberals, progressive leftist Democrats, Rush recently noted that they are “genuinely mentally ill.” “They’re sick, folks, they have literally been rendered sick.”
Rush is right on this one — sickness has afflicted the Left. Instead of taking some deep breaths and chilling a bit, they just keep doubling and tripling down on the hysterical insanity.
Whatever the case, after witnessing eight (8) years of the most destructive, egotistical, communistic, Saul Alinsky trained, community organizer racist racial divider we have seen in the last 50 years, who never worked a real job in his entire life — for you Lefties out there to have the audacity to spew out any of the cow manure that you are spewing out about the new administration is beyond the pale. Talk about hysteria, every post you make that is outside of the raw milk/food realm is dripping with hysteria. You and Mark need to go back to Happy Dale Farm and take your meds.
And don’t get me wrong, I have a cautionary eyebrow raised as I sit back and observe what Mr. Trump is doing. Of course, you folks don’t even give us a chance to express this side of it. You are so busy attacking, you leave us no choice but to defend.
Gordon. You might as well give it up. These guys are blue-pill taking Matrix denizens who are perfectly happy living in their little LaLa land of make believe, listening to the MSM (CNN, MSNBC, ABC, POLITICO and PBS, etc.) and believing word for word what the WSJ, NYT and WaPo put out there every day.
We must pity them and pray for them.
Cheesemaker, if I had known you were getting your information from Rush Limbaugh, I would never contradicted you. I mean, Rush is “the man.” Mister authoritative info, the very opposite of “fake news” you scream about. Please forgive me. 🙂
For-some-reason-this-comic-strip-pretty-well-describes-what-has-been-happening-here,-correct-me-if-I’m-wrong:
http://dilbert.com/strip/2017-02-26
Ken, I share your life experience of early to rise and hard work at an early age. I drove hay rakes in JR high school when I was 12 and 13 years old. I milked cows when I was 11 and 12 years old. When i was in high school, i drove elevator scrapers( CAT 22 yard ) after hours moving dirt for a land leveking company. There was no other choice,….that was the expectation and that’s what I did. The money went to my family because they needed it and I never questioned it. But my family also supported me later in life as I worked my way through Paramedic School and college. For 16 years I worked 24 hour shifts and threw away any knowledge of time…15-20 calls per day running EMS calls for humanity. It certainly was not for the pay or the joy of no sleep.
That early life work ethic has served me well….just as it has served all those that learned to work early in life. My comment about work ethic did not pertain to us….it pertained to all those Americans that never learned to work, are in poor physical condition and can not work hard. They fear work in some way.
As a producer of food, hard work comes with the territory. When seeking out employees that can and will work hard for ten hours….it is a rare find to discover a white American that can or will work for $15 dollars per hour and show up for work day after day with a good attitude. That’s what my comment was based upon. Your work ethic is not shared by the general work force, or the common unemployed white person.
However….employees that have just come from a country that pays literally less than $5 per day….$200 per day is like finding a bucket of gold! They send those money’s home to families, they pay taxes, they have a fantastic attitude, they show up to work,….on time and ready to perform.
America was built by immigrants, the hungry and the motivated….not the unmotivated couch potatoes that bitch and moan looking for handouts and can not or will not go to school or start at the bottom and work up the ladder.
To under appreciate the new immigrant is to disgrace all Americans that started at the bottom and worked hard. I respect new immigrants, and those that at great risk did what ever it took to swim, walk, hide, hitch hike etc….for a better life.
Not everyone has the DNA or familial experience or up bringing to appreciate hard work like you and I. Just want to make sure my comment is taken in the proper context. As to the comments by my dear Watson…no comment. I forgive you.
mr. watson,
If you were to place the word Muslim in your text instead of Christian, you sound as radical to me as Isis, as far as I am concerned religion has caused more deaths than any disease, period!! Jesus was from the middle east, he was not a caucasian. Keep your beliefs of “your” god to yourself, in fact keep “your” religion to yourself and your white supremacy bs, this site is about raw milk.
Mr. Gumpert,
You do have the patience of Job!!
John Dutcher
John, thanks for your common sense, and perceptive historical sense. With regard to the racism and religious nationalism perpetrated by Watson, as he revels in the Trump/Bannon racism and bigotry, I came across something that may inform the future: the 10–80–10 rule.
According to a commentator I respect, “This rule seems to show up in many areas of study; from discussions of popular support of the Nazis in 1930’s Germany, to studies of how police corruption does or doesn’t spread, to psychology experiments. It boils down to this:
Roughly 10% of the population will, in almost any circumstance, be heroes. Their moral compass will not waver, no matter what happens.
Roughly 10% of the population will, in almost any circumstance, be villains. They will inflict harm on others for their own benefit whenever they can get away with it.
The remaining 80% of the population sits on a spectrum between these two, but ultimately will wait to see what people around them are doing, and what’s considered socially acceptable. If they find themselves in a place where the social norms encourage honesty and morality, they will follow suit; if they find themselves in a place where certain kinds of violence and thievery are normalized, they will engage in them as well.
10% of people will always be heroes; 10% will be villains. The other 80% will wait to see what people around them are doing, and take their cues about what’s right and wrong from social norms.
This was the secret of the Nazi rise to power; it’s the secret of structural racism; it’s the secret of how every vile movement either does or doesn’t succeed. These issues are never decided by converting one 10% or the other; they’re decided by the social norms which the 80% see around them, which determine for them what is and isn’t allowable.”
So you see, how Watson and a few other crazies behave isn’t the critical factor, it’s how the vast majority of ordinary decent people decide to behave.
Mr Gumpert = if you’re going to start sounding off on your ( raw milk? ) blog about “…the secret of the Nazi rise to power …” you ought to familiarize yourself with the work of your tribesman, Dr Henry Makow. Who, with an an earned Phd in English, has made himself one of the world’s experts on that very topic. In one sentence : Dr Makow’s website has compiled overwhelming evidence to prove that the Na-Zi party was a creation of the Zionists, funded by a very small faction of immensely wealthy banksters, with the aim of terrorizing Jews in Europe, so as to drive them into the world’s largest Ghetto on Palestinian Territory. Too big a concept for you to wrap your mind around? Do your own homework
Dr Makow’s work is especially helpful, illuminating what went on in Russia. I dare you to apply your method re ‘80% of the population accept the social norm’ to the usurpation of govt. by the Bolsheviks. Confer with what Alexander Solzenhitzsen said about it in his masterpiece “200 years together”. The decent people of Russia didn’t ‘go along’ with what was fashionable = they were herded to their deaths many different ways, by rabid terrorists with guns. The very same technique as was used by Zion-ist thugs to take control of Palestinian territory.
Perhaps you’d care to apply your aphorism, about = “80% of a population are enablers’ = to what’s going on in Israeli territory, today? … do 80% of ordinary Jews just “go along with” the unspeakable barbarity perpetrated by that regime upon the Arabs? in the same way as wickedness overtook all the “good Germans” ?
John Dutcher = you err asserting this website forum is strictly about raw milk. apparently you’ve come in late to this movie … Mister Gumpert opened up his forum to partisan politics. Politics is the outworking of what people really believe. If you cannot stand the heat here in Heck’s Kitchen, best you hie your-anti-christ-self away to some safe space where you can paddle-around in a puddle of warm milk. ‘Cause I won’t be deferring to your trite, insipid guff.
From what I see on this forum over about 6 years. by far … those who post are white Christians who are either drinking REAL MILK, or participating in its production, or both. They understand that the raw milk controversy is a seemingly small but critical battlefront in the larger struggle for the soul of the nation.
as for white national-ism : having studied the topic for ~half a century, I can tell you that the evidence for Caucasians being the direct descendants of the man, Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, is overwhelming for anyone who honestly considers it. Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel, was, and continues to be, the near Kinsman Redeemer of the Israelites … that’d be us, here in America today. For you = The Bible makes no sense because you’re blinded by the Adversary’s Big Lie to do with ‘separation of church and state’ : to white Christians, the Bible is our handbook of government. The engine of the Campaign for REAL MILK, is = people awakening to the Law of the God of Israel, starting with the food laws
“radical” ? You got that part right. When Christians are properly moving in the power of the Holy Spirit, the wordily order takes us very seriously as a threat to its power. The Pharisees had Jesus Christ nailed-up, because they were terrified they’d lose their authority “in Moses’ seat”. During the Revolutionary War, the troops marched to the tune now known as the Star Spangled Banner. Originally, it was a hymn boasting about Christians “turning the world upside down”
This from a generally favorable column about Trump ideologue Steve Bannon in today’s WSJ, which has become extremely pro-Trump:
“Every form of ethno-nationalism is un-American.
“America’s reason for being is spelled out in the preamble to the Constitution, the charter of our civic life: to “’form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.’
“I find nothing in these words about a particular religion, or the Judeo-Christian tradition, or a specific canon of the virtues, or social conservatism (or social liberalism, for that matter).”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/steve-bannon-and-the-global-tea-party-1488327459
Hi Five to John,
After listening very carefully to every word that Trump said last night, I was fascinated by the fact that Trump never mentioned the following:
1. The second Amendment or gun rights.
2. Who would work in the fields to pick our food or make the beds in his hotels?
3. That only rich immigrants would be allowed to come to America.
4. No mention of farming or rural economy.
It sounds to me that Trump is fixated on the wealthy and never was in touch with the working class. He also never discussed how to pay for massive increases in military spending, slashing taxes for corporations, and paying for the wall. Growing the economy to increase tax revenues does not work when taxes are slashed. No ideas on how to cover more Americans with health care. In fact, it was clear that it would be the poor that would be given access to health care…,that they would have to pay for.
He advocates for health care for the rich at the expense of everyone else.
I will say that he spoke in a much more presidentsil tone and did not make me nauseated quite as much as during prior speaches
These are the comments of the NFU president Roger Johnson:
“President Trump’s agenda must begin to consider and prioritize the economic well-being of rural and farming communities. In tonight’s speech, the President failed to mention the words ‘rural,’ ‘farm,’ or ‘agriculture,’ yet touched on a myriad of policy issues that could have major impacts on family farmers, ranchers and rural communities.
“For instance, the President plans to revitalize the American economy and support the creation of jobs by renewing our nation’s trade agenda. While his focus on improving trade agreements is appreciated, our members are increasingly concerned about his earlier harsh rhetoric and the strain it has placed on our trading partners.
“Trump’s plan to switch away from the ‘current system of lower-skilled immigration’ neglects the unique and important work that immigrant laborers provide for our nation’s food system and rural economies.
“And Trump’s proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act must ensure affordable access to health insurance for rural Americans, especially for family farmers who can not be part of large plans.
“If the President intends to be a champion for all Americans, he must consider the real and lasting impacts his policy agenda will have on rural America and family farmers and ranchers.”
Dear fellow bloggers….think again, is Trump really our friend. Will he think about who feeds America as he builds a wall to keep out field workers and those that feed us. Will he consider the farmers and dairymen as he slashes all farm related expenditures to cut expenses in order to build more F35 Fighter jets. Will he abandon health care for millions? Trump as publically admitted that ” who would have known how complicated health care is to fix”. Well….I sure as hell did and so did all the people that fought hard to get version one implemented under Obama. This dude is clueless.
Think about it.
Sam Girod, the Amish salve maker, guilty on all counts. Sentencing June 16, before a hangin’ judge.
Here’s are wrap-ups of the two days of trial:
http://www.kyfreepress.com/2017/03/trial-fda-v-samuel-girod-day-2/
http://www.kyfreepress.com/2017/02/fda-v-sam-girod-trial-day-1/
You’d think that Tom Massie would have gotten involved in this somehow. I just don’t know enough about this one to get my hands around all the nuances. He’s making skin cream, right? Has anyone been harmed?
If you read the trial accounts, not a single witness testified to having been harmed from Sam’s skin cream. Apparently no pols were willing to go to bat for Sam.
Unfortunately, Sam didn’t go to bat for Sam as well as he might have. He fired his lawyer early on, and refused to engage top notch legal help. During the trial, he had some minimal help from a public defender. A top defense lawyer was his only real hope in a jury trial.
Oh, this is terrible news! I am very sorry for Sam and his family. I can only hope the sentencing will be lenient. A person who has never harmed another person does not belong in jail.
but but but … our sympathies were solicited on the grounds, partly = that ‘Sam is an Amishman and they’re such wonderful Christians’ … well, if so, how come he’s sitting there in the prisoner’s dock? on such a triviality as the wording of labelling? How come he didn’t submit himself to the commandment to “settle with thine adversary in the way, lest you get hauled before the Magistrate, and made to pay the utmost farthing” ? There is a time and place to take a godly stand resisting the Tyrant. This was not one of them.
I am moved by the misjustice served on Sam. Clearly, the courts are not something that Sam understands. He is ignorant and undereducated about the courts. As an Amishman, his lack of education clearly did not serve him well.
Jail because of some mislabeling of a herbal skin cream. This is a miscarriage of justice by the FDA and prosecutors. I know that with a good lawyer the fda would have gotten far less. Sometimes I really wonder about America. A possible lifetime in jail over a skin cream label. Something is really wrong.
The United States Code (statutes) is more that 27,000 pages long. That is just statutory law. Federal regulations comprise another 80,000 plus pages of regulations. There is a difference between statutory law and regulatory law, though the lines have become blurred. The bottom line is that we all likely break some law each and every day, if not each and every week. We just don’t know it.
The FDA regulations fall within the ilk of what has been referred to as the “Fourth Branch of Government.” It is comprised of unelected bureaucrats who write regulations as they see fit, depending on how the wind is blowing that day and on the political climate as well as how much influence their masters assert, they’re masters being Big Ag, Big Pharma and Big Business. Our elected leaders are to blame for this because they are the ones who have “passed the buck” to the regulators.
Curiously, the Congressional Research Service is unable to give us an accurate count of the current number of federal crimes.
I guess you’ll find out whenever they arrest you for whatever it is.
This makes for an arbitrary and capricious government that can do whatever it wants whenever it wants under the guise of regulation. The King was condemned for making laws up on the spot. However, we allow our government to do it every day.
Blessed cheese maker,
You have agreement from me!!! When the state of CA arbitrarily decided one sunny day to start testing raw milk twice….once at the dairy barn tank and again at the creamery….both of the tests are for coliforms. The problem is this….the less than 10 stardard is so low….that the lab variation is sometimes about 10 coliforms. So we can fail at the dairy and pass at the final product. In the brilliant and quite arbitrary decision of CDFA they have the county health department test the dairy and CDFA test the finished product.
This was done with out any input from dairies or consumers or scientists,….the regulators did this all by themselves.
I call this double jeapardy. It is hurtful, unfounded and not based in science. The sole rationale for this policy was to place extra barriers on raw milk producers in hopes of adding more burdens in hopes of stopping raw milk flows.
Every time our regulators do this crap to us with out our consult….it pisses us off. How do we respond, we smile and comply. What else can we do. The courts won’t side with us and law suits cost too much and suck out your life blood.
This is the unjust set of conditions that we must bare. Until such a time that we are powerful enough to fire the bastards and create real rules that are based on legitimate science and food safety standards…..we just comply, keep our products safe and build markets!!! That time is coming soon. Beware, regulators, the rules you hurt us by….will become the karma that will run you out of your jobs.
Mr. Watson,
This will be my last comment to you. You certainly have jumped to very many conclucions due to your assumptions( remember assumptions are like butt holess every one has one).You do not read very well, go back and read what I wrote. I have been on this website for a few years now and have read your ramblings with great amusement every time.First off, where in the dickens did you get the idea I am ant-Christ???? And again you make another ass-umption in your reference to me not understanding the Bible,you remind me of all the television “preachers” who handpick verses and mix them with other verses from different books of the Bible to make “your” or “their” point( their being tv evangelatists).Maybe you ought to read it all the way through from the beginning and quit bouncing around verses. As far as your version of history i.e. American revolutionary troops marching to the star spangled banner, are “alternative facts”, Francis Scott Key wrote the star spangled banner in 1814, a little late for the war you speak of sir!! one question for you, when do you find time to farm( at all?)when you say you have read all these books, must be twenty years worth of time to read that many, you sir, methinks you are a phony!! I will, however,continue to read your posts with the humor I have formerly found in them.
John Dutcher
Mr Dutcher … take your own advice. Tune-up your own reading comprehension. (you could use help with your spelling, too ) Read what I actually said about the music, not the modern lyric. It was already in existence as a hymn before Key added the words now known as The Star Spangled Banner. Confer with F Tupper Saucy’s masterpiece, Rulers of Evil : required reading for anyone interested in the history of the Republic of the united States of America.
think what you want … having organized four cowshares in British Columbia – one of which grew to serve 500 + households – my credibility is established. Twice, I stood in the gap in Court, risking gaol, in order to bring to a head the issue of legality of raw milk for human consumption. In one round, Madam Justice Gropper appointed me as the representative of the class of persons who want raw milk for our own consumption. Thus, I’m a court-certified spokesman on this topic. At present, I help a cowshare and a goat dairy to keep the REAL MILK is flowing here and now. . Perhaps you’ll fill-in readers of this forum re your own efforts ?
What’ve you ever done for the Campaign for REAL MILK, other than toss off a drive-by internet cheap shot?
Canada’s largest commercial dairy being sued for delivering milk to the Processor [ Saputo ] when they knew it was poisoned. Named as one of the Defendants is the Milk Marketing Board. This one has enough momentum to disrupt the whole God damned dairy quota racket.
a perfect demonstration of what happens when the Soviet CAFO model fails
Just the merest co-incidence that this same farm was convicted of animal cruelty recently?
Chilliwack, Abbotsford dairy farms face lawsuit over tainted milk
http://www.agassizharrisonobserver.com/news/415594614.html
From a new WSJ economic analysis:
“Little attention is being paid to the threat to food prices from a drop in immigrant labor. What is known so far is generally anecdotal and regional. But the impact of a nationwide hit to the supply of workers could be large. Food price increases, which have been low, would boost already accelerating inflation.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cost-of-tough-immigration-rules-1489570211?mod=djemheard_t
increases in food prices are IN-evitable, as a consequence of the last administration having doubled the quantity of currency. The over-educated idiots at the levers of power, believed they could create wealth by hypothecating into being = more currency, are about to re-learn THE major lesson of fiat currency. It always fails, spectacularly
But “it’s an ill wind which doesn’t blow someone, good.” As long as they can keep the predators and parasites from looting, those who can produce real wealth, will prosper. Wages will find their true level. As IL-legal aliens flee from CAFO operations, the free market will do what it always does … determine accurate pricing for goods/ services. Instead of being undercut by 3rd world attitudes, remaining white folks will be able to command a fair return for their efforts.
just as ‘bad money drives out good’, when sanity is re-established in a marketplace, those who produce ‘quality’ get payed properly.