Power resides where men believe it resides.
“Power resides where men believe it resides. It’s a trick, a shadow on the wall. And a very small man can cast a very large shadow.” — Lord Varys
"I
don’t think [Davos] is a hangout for globalists."
— Treasury Sec. Steve Mnuchin, who will be among those
accompanying President Trump to what is apparently a populist labor camp.
"No one expects Donald Trump
to depart Davos a card-carrying globalist, but it would serve him well to
return home recognizing that 'making America great again' requires that
the world not come apart." [Time,
Davos and the Donald, February
5, 2018]
Trump to CNBC's Joe Kernen: "When I decided to come to Davos, I didn't think in terms of elitist or globalist, I thought in terms of lots people that want to invest lots of money and they're all coming back to the United States, they're coming back to America."
TRUMP'S WORDS: "I'm a free trader. Totally. I'm a fair trader. I'm all kinds of trader, but I want reciprocal."
DAVOS AWARDS 2018
Also universally known as the Un-Crystal Awards. PwC counted the ballots. (Not really, on both counts.) Envelopes, please…
POLITICAL AWARD: Easy one: Emmanuel Macron. Even Donald Trump loves him best of all. Sorry, Theresa. He’s now talked about as the leader of Europe. Sorry, Angela. The Frenchman’s star power kept a full room enraptured through a mostly tedious speech on Wednesday.
INCLUSION AWARD: The Intercontinental Davos for its 17 Swiss franc bottled water.
BUDGET AWARD: The Belvédère for using the cheapest supermarket hand soap in its bathrooms.
PARENTING AWARD: WEF supremo Klaus Schwab; not only got Trump to the table but kept him from flipping it.
PRODUCT PLACEMENT AWARD: The sign that advertised both the “Life in a Day of a Refugee” exhibition and the drop-off zone for limousines.
ALSO-RAN BOOBY PRIZE: The Macron of 2016, Justin Trudeau, made a splashy trade announcement — but the Davosites are a fickle bunch and have moved on from the Canadian with the wavy hair.
GHOST OF DAVOS PAST CITATION: Angela Merkel felt like yesterday’s pol, soon set to join the parade of other grand has-beens who make the pilgrimage here (John Kerry, Al Gore, David Cameron, Tony Blair).
DESIGN AWARD: All the white tents and temporary buildings that became invisible in Monday’s snow-in.
PARTICIPATION AWARD: Europe for sending nearly all its national leaders, while saving the Forum from Jean-Claude Juncker.
INVISIBILITY CLOAK AWARD: Russia. Contributed nothing to any conversation.
POLITICAL LOST OPPORTUNITY AWARD: Narendra Modi. India wanted to make this Davos about itself and put its one-time star on the main stage. No one noticed.
BOTTOM CELEBRITY PRIZE: Will.i.am, who was last heard of on the music scene a decade ago, and appears everywhere at Davos. But WEF celebrity beggars can’t be choosers anymore — with go-to celebrities like Bono, Matt Damon and Leonardo di Caprio absent this year.
SPECIAL PRIZE: Trump accomplished everything he set out to (see above) for himself.
HEALTHY HEART AWARD: Joint winner: Swiss authorities for allowing private cars to cause so much traffic gridlock that walking was often the only sensible option; and the WEF for never having enough seats for participants to pass the time on.
SKIING AWARD: David Cameron, who injured just one of his associates on the slopes.
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| READ |
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| FROM THE PORCH |
CRUZ LEVERAGE DROPS: If Texas Sen. Ted Cruz thought he could persuade Iowa
Sen. Chuck Grassley to yield on the Renewable
Fuel Standard by indirectly blocking Grassley's grandson from getting a job,
that leverage is now gone. The theory went like this: Cruz's hold on Bill
Northey's nomination for a USDA job would leave him in his current post as Iowa
agriculture secretary. That would create a logjam preventing the governor from
naming Pat Grassley, Iowa state legislator, to the state job -- a rumor first
reported by the Des Moines Register. But the senior Grassley never relented in his
support for the RFS, and on Monday, the younger Grassley announced on Twitter that he would run for
reelection to the Iowa State Assembly - essentially removing himself from
contention for a position that never came open. [POLITICOS Morning Agriculture,
January 23, 2018]
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| INFRASTRUCTURE |
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| ISIS |
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| U.S. AGRICULTURE |
INDIAN COUNTRY PUSHES FOR BIGGER VOICE IN AG: Native
American farmers and ranchers should be further involved in USDA
decision-making, advocates said during a Senate Indian Affairs Committee
oversight hearing on Wednesday. With the 2018 farm bill on the horizon,
American Indian farmers want more resources and a louder voice - and USDA could
step in. "USDA's authorities are
the most powerful way tribal governments, tribal citizens, native farmers and
ranchers can achieve success," said Janie Simms Hipp, director of the
Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative at the University of Arkansas.
"In the past, I think USDA could've done a better job. But I think now we
are poised to have a full partner with USDA."
USDA/EPA difference: Hipp said that USDA
should view Indian tribes the same way it acts with states, which the
Environmental Protection Agency has done for decades. Several federal
environmental laws - including the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act - provide
Indian tribes essentially equal treatment as states.
What are some of the asks? More than
30 tribes have joined the Native Farm Bill Coalition to help shed a light on
tribal interests - which range from more credit availability to increased
access and eligibility for USDA programs. The group also wants tribes to have the authority to take over SNAP
administration and have a presence in all Foreign Agricultural Service trade
missions.
By the numbers: There are almost 60,000
Indian farmers and ranchers in the U.S., according to the 2012 USDA agriculture
census. By all accounts, that number has steadily increased in recent years as
Indian farm operators seek out new opportunities in agribusiness. [POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, January 18, 2018]
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| U.S. MILITARY |
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| CLIMATE CHANGE |
Committee announced for study on
Intervention to Increase the Resilience of Coral Reefs
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and
Medicine have appointed a new committee to conduct a study on Interventions to Increase the
Resilience of Coral Reefs.
Climate
change is increasingly threatening coral reefs world-wide, causing mass coral
bleaching events and disease outbreaks. A growing body of scientific literature
has explored novel ecological and genetic interventions that have the
potential to enhance the recovery and persistence of coral reefs
threatened by rapidly deteriorating environmental conditions. The committee
will summarize research, including the state of readiness, of
these novel interventions. The committee will also develop
an environmental risk assessment framework to identify potential
benefits and harms of the intervention strategies. The complete task can be found on the study website.
The committee slate is provisional pending a public comment period and
final approval by the National Academies.
SAVE
THE DATE! The committee’s first meeting will
be on February 8 in Washington, DC and will include a public open session. More
information will be forthcoming on the study website.
Global warming: The past three years were the warmest years on record.
Data suggests the global temperature is rising, and warmer Arctic temperatures
will have "profound and long-lasting repercussions" on sea levels and
weather patterns, according to World Meteorological Organization's
Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. [POLITICOS Morning Agriculture, January 19,
2018]
2 Supreme Court ESA decisions: The Supreme Court will hear an appeal after two lower
courts sided with the Fish and Wildlife Service in a dispute involving habitat
for the endangered dusky gopher frog. But it won't hear an appeal of an
Endangered Species Act case involving an Alaskan seal losing its habitat to ice
melting. The much-watched lawsuit sets a precedent for justifying ESA
protections through climate change. [POLITICOS Morning Agriculture, January 23,
2018]
PERDUE TO TALK FARM BILL IN PENNSYLVANIA: Agriculture
Secretary Sonny Perdue will make his way around a crucial swing-state on
Wednesday to roll out USDA's principles for the next farm bill. The department
until now has released few details about what exactly those principles are. But
Perdue has said they would help Congress know what he heard from farmers and
ranchers during his "Back to Our Roots" RV tour last summer. In
several public appearances, Perdue has said that he understands it's Congress'
job to write the farm bill, but that the USDA can provide counsel and technical
assistance along the way.
The schedule: Perdue begins at Penn State
University in State College, Pa., where he will host a breakfast roundtable
with faculty members and students. Perdue also will tour the local USDA
Agricultural Research Service facility, where scientists are researching
watershed and pasture management. The next stop is Reinford Farms, a dairy
operation that is using an anaerobic digester to turn manure into electricity,
as described last year by NPR. Perdue will then
travel to a food bank in Harrisburg for a talk on nutrition assistance, and
then to AgCom, Inc. in Gettysburg. The last stop is a Farm Service Agency
service center also in Gettysburg. [POLITICO's
Morning Agriculture, January 23 2018]
USDA SAYS 'NO' TO MAINE ON SNAP RESTRICTIONS: Maine
Gov. Paul LePage is not getting his wish to ban SNAP from paying for sugary
drinks and candy after USDA formally denied the state's
ask.
Friends in high places: Conservatives who are
active in food policy hoped the petition would be approved in part because
LePage, a Republican, has been a vocal backer of President Donald Trump. (It
was Maine's second attempt after the Obama administration denied a similar
request.) Indeed, some officials within the White House were in favor of
granting Maine's request, while USDA officials were generally opposed to it,
according to multiple sources who are close to the process but are not
authorized to speak publicly.
USDA doesn't want to referee on sugar: "When
considering waiver requests, USDA focuses on moving people into self-sufficient
lives, protecting the integrity of the program, and improving customer service,"
a USDA spokesperson said Thursday. "We don't want to be in the business of
picking winners and losers among food products in the marketplace, or in
passing judgment about the relative benefits of individual food products."
LePage not happy: LePage, in a radio address late Thursday, called
the USDA's decision "extremely disappointing because Maine, like other
states, is experiencing a health epidemic of obesity and other chronic
illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, resulting from the
consumption of foods with high sugar content." LePage noted that in 1990,
the obesity rate in Maine was 10 percent. By 2016, it had tripled to 30
percent.
Sugar as the next tobacco: LePage
also drew a strong comparison: "When we could no longer deny that smoking
was causing suffering and early death for millions of people, the government
finally stood up to Big Tobacco and did the right thing," he said.
"The time has come to stand up to Big Sugar and ensure our federal dollars
are supporting healthy food choices for our neediest people." [POLITICO's
Morning Agriculture, January 19 2018]
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| HEALTHCARE |
Congress is
currently working on a vote to fund the government, with the reauthorization of the
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) among the things hanging in the
balance. Funding for this program could run out as soon as the end of the
month, and without it, 8.9 million low-income children could lose access to
care. And that's just this week.
In February, the White House will release its budget blueprint for 2018. Soon after, the House will release its own blueprint. In both circumstances, we're already hearing that hospitals could face yet another round of harmful funding cuts — cuts that would harm patients. We're also hearing that later this year, Congress may consider dramatic changes to Medicaid or Medicare. What's more, it remains possible that some members of Congress may renew last year's efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a plan that could derail coverage for millions of families.
As we've seen over the last 12 months, the fight to protect care for families in your community is unpredictable. We need to keep our guard up and stay ready to take action to protect health care and hospitals. In the days and weeks to come, we'll let you know more about what we're up against and how this community can get involved. For now, we simply wanted to let you know what's going on — and thank you for being such an important part of our work.
Coalition to Protect America's Health Care
In February, the White House will release its budget blueprint for 2018. Soon after, the House will release its own blueprint. In both circumstances, we're already hearing that hospitals could face yet another round of harmful funding cuts — cuts that would harm patients. We're also hearing that later this year, Congress may consider dramatic changes to Medicaid or Medicare. What's more, it remains possible that some members of Congress may renew last year's efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a plan that could derail coverage for millions of families.
As we've seen over the last 12 months, the fight to protect care for families in your community is unpredictable. We need to keep our guard up and stay ready to take action to protect health care and hospitals. In the days and weeks to come, we'll let you know more about what we're up against and how this community can get involved. For now, we simply wanted to let you know what's going on — and thank you for being such an important part of our work.
Coalition to Protect America's Health Care
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 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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