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Desperate Need for Respect for the Completeness of Life









DAILY SPECIALS

















DACA HEARING IN HOUSTON: One of four active cases on the constitutionality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will come up for a hearing in the Southern District of Texas this morning. Judge Andrew S. Hanen will hear a motion by seven states — including Texas — to halt DACA renewals until the case runs its course.
— The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund will argue on behalf of 22 DACA recipients that the request should be rejected because the program has been in place in Texas and throughout the country for six years, said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel.

— The hearing comes just days after a D.C.-based federal judge ruled in another DACA-related lawsuit that the Trump administration must resume accepting new applications for the program. [POLITICO's Morning Education, August 8, 2018]




SCIENCE








BUDGET




Deficit Up 20% So Far This Year: CBO

The federal deficit was 20 percent larger in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2018 than it was during the same time last year, the Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday. Revenues rose 1 percent, but outlays increased by 4 percent, producing a deficit of $682 billion on total receipts of $2.76 trillion.
The April tax period produced more individual tax payments for the 2017 calendar than expected, CBO said, contributing to the rise in revenues. Corporate income tax payments, however, were lower than expected, falling by $66 billion, likely reflecting the impact of the GOP tax cuts going into effect this year.

On the spending side, outlays for Social Security rose by 4 percent, while Medicaid and Medicare rose by 3 percent each. Spending at the Department of Defense rose 6 percent. The Department of Homeland Security saw a 49 percent increase in outlays, driven largely by disaster relief. Spending for net interest on the public debt jumped by 19 percent, in part due to higher inflation. [The Fiscal Times, August 8, 2018]



PUBLIC LANDS & NATURAL AREAS      

July 16, 2018

Bad Will Hunting

When you visit Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, as my family and I did a couple weeks ago, you see something spectacular everywhere you look, whether it's towering peaks wreathed in cloud or carpets of wildflowers. One thing you probably won't see is a grizzly bear, even though both parks and the surrounding wilderness are prime bear habitat. Like us, you might find yourself in what's known as a "bear jam." As you can see, though, the animal backing up traffic was the grizzly's smaller cousin, a black bear:
Grizzly bears do their best to avoid the most dangerous animal of all: humans. At the same time, park rangers do their best to keep people away from grizzlies, even if it means temporarily closing a popular trail. Even so, when you hike in the park, it's at the back (or for my wife, the front) of your mind: Will there be a bear around that corner? Part of you would be excited to see one (from a distance), and part of you (the sensible part) hopes you're making enough noise on the trail to avoid surprises. Even so, and despite their size, without their grizzlies, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks would be diminished.
That came close to happening about fifty years ago, when the total grizzly population in the lower 48 was down to about 800 bears. In the Greater Yellowstone Area, fewer than 150 were left. Technically, what saved grizzlies was passage of the Endangered Species Act. In reality, though, it was a shift in attitude -- from "us or them" to "conservation and coexistence" -- that made it possible. Federal protection led to enlightened policies (like closing park garbage dumps that attracted bears and educating local landowners on how to avoid human-bear conflicts) that made coexistence feasible.
Even so, it's been a long, slow road toward recovery. Grizzlies reproduce very slowly (only one North American mammal takes longer, and if you don't already know, you'll never guess which one). Although grizzly populations in Yellowstone and Glacier are certainly in better shape now than before they were protected, their future remains precarious. That's why it's so disastrous that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services took the Greater Yellowstone grizzly off of the endangered species list, which eliminated many protections and put the fate of the bears in the hands of the Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana state governments.
The result? Despite public protest, and against the advice of scientists, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission has decided to let trophy hunters kill nearly two dozen bears this year -- including females of breeding age -- and Idaho has approved killing one bear in the first year, and potentially more after that. Regardless of what you think of trophy hunting (for the record, most Americans deplore it), this is indefensible. Remember, it took more than 40 years to increase the Greater Yellowstone grizzly population from fewer than 150 to about 700. In the past three years, more than 150 bears in that region have died, mostly from human-related causes. And nobody knows how grizzlies will cope with the increasing and disturbing effects of climate change on their food supply.
Grizzlies today occupy only about two to four percent of their historic range in the Lower 48. With the loss of protection for the Greater Yellowstone population, even that tiny foothold is again in jeopardy. Will the grizzlies of the Northern Rockies, like those in Glacier National Park, be the next to face slaughter if they step over the park boundary? Don't look to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to protect the bears in his home state of Montana or anywhere else; the centerpiece of his office makeover wasn’t those $139,000 doors but a stuffed and mounted grizzly.

The Sierra Club, other conservation groups, and the Northern Cheyenne nation (for whom the grizzly bear is sacred) have filed lawsuits over the delisting, and we expect a decision on August 30, right before the trophy hunts are slated to begin. We'll do all we can to ensure that grizzly bears not only survive in places like Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies but also thrive wherever suitable habitat remains. On September 1, though, it’s possible that the first sanctioned trophy hunt for these magnificent animals in 40 years will begin. If so, that will be a sad day for America, and a tragic one for the grizzly bear.



NATURE & OUTDOORS















First in Morning Media: "CBS This Morning" and Refinery29 are teaming up for "M(Y) Vote," a three-part series "exploring the potential impact of young women on the upcoming midterm elections." The collaboration includes a poll, to be released Monday, a "CBS This Morning" panel discussion Tuesday, and a Wednesday report on "two young women - one Democrat and one Republican - working in the political landscape today." The two outlets previously partnered on a 2017 project on millennial women. [Morning Media, August 10, 2018]



ELECTIONS 








MEDICINE





















Environmentalists pounced Thursday on POLITICO's report that Energy Department policy chief Bernard McNamee is expected to be tapped to fill Powelson's seat. McNamee, a vocal proponent of fossil fuels, helped Energy Secretary Rick Perry roll out a proposal last year to prop up economically struggling coal and nuclear power plants — a proposal that FERC promptly shut down. "It's outrageous that someone so clearly biased ... is even being considered as a commissioner to this independent agency, and we'll do everything we can stop his nomination," Mary Anne Hitt, the senior director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign, said in a statement.
But FERC is facing a separate controversy this week for comments made by Chairman Kevin McIntyre's top aide Anthony Pugliese, who told a nuclear industry conference on Tuesday that he would "pick on New York because I enjoy doing that." Tyson Slocum, Public Citizen's energy program director, urged McIntyre to obtain Pugliese's "immediate resignation" because of his criticism of New York and its potential to undermine FERC's commitment to being an unbiased regulator.
All of which has factored into rising fears of politicization at FERC as the agency heads out of August and into a slate of decisions on pipeline approvals and how to address the administration's efforts on coal and nuclear power plants — a top priority for both Perry and the president. Not to mention what is likely to be a tough confirmation fight in the Senate for the next nominee. Pro's Darius Dixon has more here. [POLITICO's Morning Energy, August 10, 2018]




DEMOCRATIC PARTY





DEMOCRATS' PELOSI PROBLEM -- Rashida Tlaib said Thursday on national TV that she "probably" won't back Pelosi for speaker, making her at least the 27th Democratic candidate to oppose Pelosi, by The Washington Post's count. Tlaib, who is poised to become the first Muslim woman elected to Congress after winning a crowded primary Tuesday, is running in a safely Democratic district, making her opposition stand out from Democratic candidates who have pledged not to back Pelosi in effort to fend off GOP attacks tying them to the longtime leader in Republican-controlled districts.
"While Democrats grow optimistic about their chances of taking control of the House in November, they are increasingly anxious that the presence of their longtime and polarizing leader ... is making it harder for many of their candidates to compete in crucial swing districts," The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis reports. Pelosi, on one hand, is a prolific fundraiser and the most powerful woman in Congress. On the other, she's a longtime GOP bogeyman whom Democrats believe could limit the size of a blue wave this fall. "People pretend that it isn't a problem, but it's a problem that exists," Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) said.

Though some Democrats believe anti-Pelosi attacks in Ohio cost O'Connor his special election this week, "Pelosi and her allies pointed to the top-line reality of Ohio: A district that voted for Trump in 2016 by 11 points and for Republican congressional candidates by much bigger margins swung decisively to Democrats," DeBonis notes. "The GOP's reliance on anti-Pelosi messages, they say, reflects an inability to find any other effective issue -- and to the extent she is a factor at all, her role is dwarfed by that of the president." Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said, "Trump is the only figure who looms large over the midterms," adding that the 2018 elections "are about the president and his party." More: https://wapo.st/2vvBOMm [POLITICO Huddle, August 10, 2018]












READ









TURKEY





  • Turkey is a key security ally for the U.S., so the growing rift could have serious implications for a future security relationship.  It’s a relationship also hampered by the re-election of President Erdogan.  Erdogan’s re-election could lead to major investor concern regarding the vitality and stability of the Turkish economy. [Cypher Brief, Daily Brief Wednesday August 8, 2018] 



ECUADOR







ITALY









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