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Reefer Man & Wacky Tobaccy -- Weed Day Memories
























CLIMATE CHANGE

As I write this, I’m headed out on a long trip to Asia to help the 350.org crews across the region who are fighting new coal mines and power plants.

It’s a little hard to leave the States right now, because the battles here are so massive too: trying to keep the Pruitts of the world from pushing us back to the 1950s. But they don’t call it global warming for nothing.

And indeed we’re using much the same strategy around the world: a relentless push to get states, regions, towns, and cities to adopt 100% renewable energy goals; a sweeping push against new fossil fuel projects everywhere; and an increasingly successful fight to staunch the flow of money into dirty energy.
This is the time to invest in a sustained, coordinated campaign for climate action. Can you make a monthly contribution to 350.org and fund this important work?
We must pressure our leaders to step up and make more than just empty commitments: we need to raise ambitions and play offense against the fossil fuel industry. The victories we achieve now will set the stage for greater climate action globally, and a chance to stop the worst of climate change.
I can’t tell you we’re winning everywhere: in fact, I’m deeply discouraged by the recent news that after a three-year plateau, the amount of carbon that humans pour into the air is again increasing.1

But I can tell you we’re fighting everywhere, and with enough to show for it to justify keeping up the battle. Last week, for instance, came the news that the massive University of California system has decided to stop investing in fossil fuels.2

I hope you’ll support our efforts. Asking for money is hard for me (one reason I can do it is because it’s not for me—I’m a volunteer at 350.org). I always say that, if I had to choose, I’d rather have your body in the street than your money in the bank. But the hard-working people who make up our staff around the world need your support to keep going, so if you can afford to make a monthly gift it would help. Many thanks for your support.

I can’t assure you we’re going to win, only that we’re going to fight. And that if the fight is ever going to matter, it will right now, as the U.S. prepares for crucial elections and as the temperature rises.So if you can help, I hope you will.

Thank you so much,

Bill McKibben for 350.org [April 9. 2018]

1 - Global Carbon Emissions Are Rising Again after 3 Flat Years, Chelsea Harvey, Scientific American, November 13, 2017
2 - Fossil fuels to be history for UC investment office, Arleen Jacobius, Pensions & Investments, April 2, 2018




USDA BOLSTERS SUPPORT FOR DAIRY FARMERS: The USDA announced Tuesday that it will reopen enrollment in the Margin Protection Program for dairy farmers starting next week now that it has implemented changes to the program, which Congress directed in the budget and disaster aid package (H.R. 1892) earlier this year.
What has changed: The adjustments to MPP -- which triggers payments when the difference between the prices of milk and feed drops below levels insured by the producer -- are designed to boost participation in the program and increase financial assistance to dairy farmers at a time when many are struggling to stay in business. They were crafted by the National Milk Producers Federation, along with Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy (Vt.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.).
"We recognize the financial hardships many of our nation's dairy producers are experiencing right now," Perdue said in a statement. "Folks are losing their contracts and they are getting anxious about getting their bills paid while they watch their milk check come in lower and lower each month."
Billion-dollar price tag: The changes to MPP will cost about $1 billion over a decade, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. They include: sending out payments each month, rather than bi-monthly; reducing producers' premiums by upward of 70 percent on their first 5 million pounds of milk so they can afford higher coverage levels; and raising the catastrophic margin from $4 to $5, which many producers can sign up for at no cost. [POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, April 4, 2018]
WHITE HOUSE PROMISES PLAN TO PROTECT FARMERS 'SHORTLY': The White House is pledging to release before too long specifics of just how it aims to shield farmers from any deterioration of trade relations with China.
At the White House daily press briefing with reporters Monday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to answer specific questions on the plan, which Trump promised late last week after announcing that he instructed USTR to consider implementing tariffs on an additional $100 billion in imports from China. Asked whether the path forward might include extra crop insurance subsidies, for one, Huckabee Sanders responded: "I'm not going to get ahead of potential options, but the president has asked the Department of Agriculture to come back with some specifics that we'll announce to you guys shortly."
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue also indicated later in the day that administration officials are keeping their plans close to the vest. He declined to discuss specific strategies, noting that it wouldn't be "prudent to give away our playbook" to China while the two countries are still negotiating over trade issues. Pro Agriculture's Catherine Boudreau has more here.
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Steve Censky said earlier Monday that USDA officials are weighing all options for helping farmers, including by buying up commodities.

"If there are some impacts there, we're going to work to take care of our farmers to make sure they are not negatively impacted and don't bear the brunt of any kind of a trade retaliation that might be taken by China," Censky said. Pro Agriculture's Helena Bottemiller Evich has more here.[ POLITICO's Morning Trade, April 10, 2018}



MAIL CALL! In a letter dated April 5 from Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Donald McEachin, the Natural Resources Committee Democrats called for an investigation into whether Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke violated the Hatch Act when he traveled to Florida to exempt the state from Interior's five-year offshore drilling plan. A spokesman for the committee's Democrats tells ME that the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel says it will open an investigation based on the request. Read the letter here.

- In a separate letter, Democrats reached out on Thursday to Interior's Office of Inspector General, calling for "an investigation into the effectiveness of the scientific integrity policy at the National Park Service (NPS) and whether it is being adequately enforced." That letter refers to a report that said officials deleted mentions of humans' role in climate change from a report on sea-level rise and storm surges [POLITICO's Morning Energy, April 9, 2018]



EDUCATION






SCHOOL OWNER PLEADS GUILTY IN VA BRIBERY SCHEME: The owner of a private, non-accredited school specializing in information technology courses pleaded guilty to bribing a Veterans Affairs official who helped facilitate more than $2 million in payments meant to provide vocational training for military veterans with service-connected disabilities, the Justice Department announced Monday. According to the announcement, the owner of the school agreed to give a Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment counselor a 7 percent cash kickback on all payments the VA made to his school, the Maryland-based Atius Technology Institute.

- Through the scheme, a VA official helped funnel more than $2.2 million in payments to the school. In exchange, the school owner gave the official $155,000 in hand-delivered payments. The school owner also admitted he made several false representations to the VA, including saying veterans attending Atius were enrolled in up to 32 hours of class per week, when Atius offered a maximum of just six weekly class hours. [POLITICO's Morning Education, April 17, 2018]



FROM THE PORCH





IMMIGRATION










Pentagon names first head of software acquisition. In another sign of DoD's desire to change the way it buys and develops software for its weapons, Ellen Lord, the undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, has tapped Jeff Boleng — a former Air Force cybersecurity operations officer who is now the acting chief technology officer at Carnegie Mellon University — as her special assistant for software acquisition.
"Software is the thread that runs through all of our programs," Lord told reporters Friday morning at the Pentagon. "It is the functional area that I have focused on." A Pentagon statement said Boleng will "provide strategic focus and overall policy guidance on all matters of defense software acquisition." The Pentagon has had troubles with software across a breadth of weapons, everything from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to the ground control stations for new GPS satellites. Boleng starts his new job on Monday. [D Brief, April 13, 2018]









VETERANS



DEVOS TO NOTIFY DISABLED VETERANS ABOUT ELIGIBILITY FOR LOAN DISCHARGES: The Trump administration plans to identify and inform disabled veterans that they're eligible to have their federal student loans discharged, DeVos announced Monday. The Education Department said it would work with the Department of Veterans Affairs to match records of disabled veterans who may be eligible for a discharge of their federal loans or TEACH Grant aid. Michael Stratford has more.
- Federal law allows student loan borrowers who have a "total and permanent disability" to discharge their debt. "Simplifying the loan forgiveness process and proactively identifying veterans with federal student loans who may be eligible for a discharge is a small but critical way we can show our gratitude for veterans' service," DeVos said in a statement.
- The Obama administration announced in November 2016 that it had set up an information-sharing arrangement between the Education Department and VA to conduct a similar outreach campaign to disabled veterans. "Today's announcement points to the start of the actual exchange of data between the U.S. Departments of Education and Veterans Affairs," Education Department spokeswoman Liz Hill said in an email. "Although an agreement to share data was signed by the two agencies in November 2016, no data was, in fact, exchanged. We have completed our first exchange of data and are currently reaching out to eligible veterans."
- The new process announced by the department stops short of automatically discharging the student loans of borrowers who are disabled. A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), earlier this year urged the Trump administration to use existing VA and IRS records to "immediately discharge outstanding federal student loans for totally and permanently disabled Americans, including veterans."

- Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate education committee and frequent DeVos critic, praised the Trump administration's move in a statement: "I'm pleased [the] Department of Education is listening to veterans, families, and Congress to take this strong step forward, and I hope they will streamline this process by making debt relief automatic for people with disabilities, including the men and women who have bravely served their country." [POLITICO's Morning Education, April 17, 2018]








GLOBAL FOCUS



READ







SAVE LIFE!  SAVE THE EARTH!

Monarch butterflies are in trouble. They’ve declined by 90% in the last 20 years. And a key culprit is the massive increase in the use of glyphosate -- a.k.a. Monsanto’s Roundup®.
It’s a simple formula: More Roundup® = less milkweed = fewer monarchs.
At Friends of the Earth, we’re working to get this toxic pesticide out of our food system and shift to organic agriculture -- but we need your help.
Over the last two decades, what used to be a roaring river of butterflies migrating to Mexico each year has become a trickle.
At the same time, the amount of Roundup® being used each year has increased significantly. Use jumped from only 11 million pounds in 1987 to nearly 300 million pounds today. It’s been a 15-fold increase just since 1996! 
It’s no wonder our butterflies are in trouble. And the dramatically increased use of Roundup® is bad for us as well -- the World Health Organization has found this pesticide is a “probable carcinogen.”
The evidence is clear: we must stop supporting a food system built on toxic pesticides like Roundup® and instead build a future of organic for all.
But instead, the Trump administration is poised to hand Monsanto a license to pollute our environment, harm our health, and wipe out monarch butterflies. The agency is signaling that it intends to allow Big Ag to keep dousing our food in this toxic chemical.
Already, more than 30,000 Friends of the Earth members like you have demanded that the EPA act on this chemical. Now, we need your help to keep this work going.
Roundup® is wiping out butterflies and putting our health at risk -- but it’s making $5 billion every year in profits for Monsanto. So surely the company is doing everything it can to protect those profits.
Friends of the Earth members like you have been leading the fight against Monsanto to eliminate these pesticides. You’ve called on food companies like Ben & Jerry’s and Kroger to get glyphosate out of the products they sell. These companies can help speed up the transition to organic agriculture.
At the same time, you’re helping prevent the mega-merger of Monsanto and Bayer. These two pesticide giants are conspiring to gain unprecedented control over our food supply. But the merger is far from a done deal. The Department of Justice has expressed concerns about the merger. So we’re pushing it and state Attorneys General across the U.S. to investigate and block it.
Together, we can save monarch butterflies from extinction. We can move to a truly sustainable, healthy, organic food system that works for pollinators, people and the planet. But we need you with us.
Help save monarchs from extinction: Give $10 or more today!
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Standing with you,
Tiffany Finck-Haynes,
Senior food futures campaigner,
Friends of the Earth [April 12, 2018]



CANADA





PERDUE NOT OPTIMISTIC ON NAFTA DAIRY: Perdue sounded skeptical that Canada's controversial dairy ingredients pricing scheme would get resolved in NAFTA talks when pressed on the issue by Senate appropriators on Wednesday.
"Certainly we have impressed upon Ambassador Lighthizer almost on a weekly basis how important it is to get the dairy situation with Canada [resolved]," Perdue said, adding that the trade chief "has some larger issues" to deal with in the talks.

"We would love to have any other help impressing upon the ambassador how important it is to make sure that the dairy situation in regard to Canada is also resolved. I'm not as optimistic as I would like to be," Perdue said. [Politico Morning Trade, April 12, 2018]



BRITAIN







CHINA







NOTE: The news sources here vary.  Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here.  This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased.  Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value.  Thank you

NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as  a "community service" announcement.  These again are shared for their varying perspectives.

Any commercial or business interest information shared is purely informational, not an endorsement.  I have no connection with any such commercial or business interest.

Any books listed are random or topic-related to something else in the post.  Think of these as a "library bookshelf" to browse.  They are shared for informational or entertainment value only, not as being recommended.
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