Former state Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh used to refer to lobbyist money as "the mother's milk of politics." But he also advised new members of the Assembly: "If you can't drink their booze, enjoy their women, take their money, and vote against them in the morning, you don't belong here."
How things change! Special interests drowned the state Legislature in the 'mother's milk' not long after Unruh left office.

 The dismal dialectic between government and business may be approaching the trough, even if it has not bottomed out yet. From this vantage point, the velocity of bribery having slowed from the sheer volume of the current bribes, something almost like a calm prevails. And in this calm it is possible to see why government regulates on behalf of the people and why business reacts and works to undermine and destroy every governmental regulation. Out of the latter motive comes such idiotic slogans as "The business of America is business," (Pres.

 This is an excellent article that begs this question: how humble to we need to become to learn what we need to know to survive our leaders?
If we stop for a second to imagine all the ways possible to dismiss this question, and ask where those voices come from and how you feel about them -- warm, cold, fearful, trusting? -- it helps us see how far down the road of endless war we have gone and what it is doing to us as a nation, a people, a society, a place we would want to live if we had a choice.
-- blj
 

July 6, 2017

  
7-10-17
Rolling Stone
The Brutal Rise of El Mencho
With El Chapo behind bars, an even more dangerous drug lord has emerged. On the hunt for Mexico's next-generation narco
By Josh Eells
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/the-brutal-rise-of-el-mench...
On a hot, humid night last August, two wealthy Mexican brothers went out to party in Puerto Vallarta.

 The big smudge in the southeast is the Detwiler Fire -- a big, spreading wildfire fueled by tall grasses and manzanita east of Lake McClure and now descending on the City of Mariposa, driving crowds of cabin and ranchette owners before it. Fire trucks from the Inland Empire are lined up along Yosemite Parkway.
The fire doubled in size, from 11,600 acres to 20,000 acres in 24 hours.
We hope for the safety of the firefighters, residents and wild and domestic animals caught in the path.
-- blj
 

 From 45,000 to 70,000 in another day of flames. Great reporting job by B.J. Hansen of My Mother Lode, and citizen reporters.

Coarsegold Rodeo Grounds owner and manager have been sheltering evacuated horses and other large animals fleeing the fast-moving fire.^1.
 -- blj
 

7-20-17
My Mother Lode
Update: Size And Containment Grows On Detwiler Fire

 Cotton Subsidies in the United States totaled $35.8 billion from 1995-2014. ²Cotton Subsidies in California totaled $3.2 billion during the same period.^2..  Cotton Subsidies in Merced County, California totaled $175 million from 1995-2014.^3.
Evidently, this was far from enough to satisfy American cotton growers, so they are trying to raid the coming crop-insurance based Farm Bill.

7-18-17

 Original Post at 7:50am: Mariposa, CA — The acreage on the Detwiler Fire has inched up to 80,250 and it is holding at 65-percent containment.

7-26-17
My Mother Lode
Update: Detwiler Fire Acreage Slightly Increases, Community Meeting Called

 7-31-17
The Hill
Scaramucci out as WH communications director: report
Jordan Fabian 
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/344642-scaramucci-out-as-wh-commu...
 
President Trump on Monday removed Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, ending a tumultuous tenure in the West Wing that lasted just 10 days.