Night at the Alfalfa Club: Oligopolitics

Every conspiracy theory about a shadow government, deep state, dark state, ruling donor class and the repression and marginalization of the unwashed masses, is vindicated in a crass display of hegemonic avarice at the Alfalfa Club. If you want to see what an oligopoly looks like, here it is. A perfect marriage of politicians with their true and only constituency. I call this Oligopolitics. Like George Carlin said: "It's a big club and you ain't in it." Now it actually has a name and faces.

• Politico 01/27/2019: POLITICO Playbook: Best lines from the Alfalfa Club dinner.
• Wikipedia: Alfalfa Club. 
• The Washington Post 01/27/2019: John Kerry and Mitt Romney hugging, and Mitch McConnell in a hospital gown? It must be the Alfalfa Club dinner. 
• CNN Politics 01/27/2019: Pence, Ivanka, Kushner no-show as Mattis gets standing ovation at elite DC dinner. 
• Salt Lake Tribune 01/28/2019: Utah Sen. Mitt Romney elected president of secret Washington group of politicians, business leaders. 

Apparently this club is a hundred years old. I think it dates back to the Teapot Dome Scandal [YouTube].

These guys are insatiable. Just look at Warren G. Harding. You were never taught this in public school history class.

Michael Cohen and the Poll Rigging

News articles related to the story that Michael Cohen was ordered to manipulate polls during the 2016 election:

• USA Today - Michael Cohen offered Liberty University CIO $50,000 to rig two online polls for Trump, report says 
• CNN Politics - Cohen says Trump directed him to pay for poll rigging 
• The Washington Times - Michael Cohen hired IT firm to manipulate polls for Trump before Republican primary: Report 
• Esquire - I Was Wondering When We'd Get Trump's Cash-in-a-Bag Episode 
• Reuters - Ex-Trump lawyer: rigging polls 'was at the direction of' Trump 
• The rest of the Google search results.

Lead and Arsenic Poisoning

I recently went to the VA clinic to give blood and urine. While waiting for the blood to be drawn I asked the technician if I could have my blood tested for lead and arsenic poisoning because Springfield is powered by a coal burning power plant, and the reservoir that supplies Springfield with tap water is directly adjacent to the plant, and to the plant's coal ash pit.

This is part of an interest I have in trying to understand why people are behaving in a way never before seen, so public and vicious. The behavior stems from what seems like an inherent out of control hormonal balance, causing a plague of wrongfully attributed anger and hysteria. Normally I would plant this post under my other blog Indictment of Humanity, as just another collection of data, but the problem with toxins in our food chain has become my focus due to political and social upheavals in recent history.

Industrial interests are doing what they can to stifle reports on toxins created from burning coal.

Lead will cause the downfall of society	Lead will not cause the downfall of society

Washington Post: Lead Poisoning and the Fall of Rome.	Science Magazine: ScienceShot: Did Lead Poisoning Bring Down Ancient Rome?
War History Online: The reasons why Rome fell – Lead poisoning is often dismissed as a major cause for the decline of Rome, but the theory does have some merit	ARS Technica: Plumbing discovery reveals the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
Encyclopaedia Romana: Lead Poisoning and Wine	ThoughtCo: A Short Timeline of the Fall of the Roman Empire
World Health Organization: There is no known level of lead exposure that is considered safe.	Mayo Clinic: There is treatment for lead poisoning, but taking some simple precautions can help protect you and your family from lead exposure before harm is done.
Justice Policy Institute: Lead Poisoning, a Persistent Sign of Poverty, Is Linked to School Suspensions and Lower Student Test Scores	Vox: The risk of lead poisoning isn’t just in Flint. So we mapped the risk in every neighborhood in America. (Where to find places to live with the least amount of Lead exposure.)
Essence: 7 Cities That Prove America’s Problem With Contaminated Water Is Larger Than Flint.	Yale: Clean Air and Money: Key Ingredients to Well-Being? (Pollution is the key ingredient for maintaining socioeconomic class stratification and slave labor around the world.)