Anyone can deceive us .... for a time. - Tom Clancy
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| U.S. MILITARY |
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| SEXUAL HARRASSMENT, ABUSE & ASSAULT |
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| DEVIN NUNES |
TRUMP: DEVIN NUNES SHOULD RECEIVE THE MEDAL OF HONOR: "House
Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., should receive the Medal
of Honor for his work probing the Justice Department for documents related to
the Russia investigation, President Trump said Thursday morning," via the Washington Examiner.
"'There
was tremendous corruption, and I'll tell you what, these people want to get to
the bottom and I don't think people like Devin Nunes, he should get, if this
all turns out like everyone thinks it will, Devin Nunes should get the Medal of
Honor,' Trump said on 'Fox & Friends' Thursday morning." [POLITICO's Morning Defense, October 12, 2018]
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| JUDICIAL MATTERS |
BAYER'S $289M ROUNDUP VERDICT IN
LIMBO: Bayer and lawyers representing scores of cancer patients are
waiting to learn if a California state judge will wipe out a $289 million
verdict against the company or order a new trial over claims that the
weedkiller Roundup caused the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis of a former
school groundskeeper. Roundup was developed by Monsanto, a product that Bayer
inherited with its purchase of the company.
Early signs indicate the judge may rule
in the company's favor. San Francisco County
Superior Court Judge Suzanne Ramos Bolanos issued a tentative ruling Wednesday
to overturn the punitive damages a jury awarded, and she may decide to start
fresh with a new trial. She questioned whether there was enough scientific
evidence to meet the legal standard for the plaintiff to prove that Monsanto
was responsible for his cancer. The tentative ruling came in response to a
series of post-trial motions filed by the company.
"Given the state of medical and scientific
knowledge, there is no clear and convincing evidence that Monsanto acted with
malice or oppression in manufacturing and selling" its products containing
glyphosate, the herbicide found in Roundup, the judge wrote in the tentative
opinion.
'Champagne in the boardroom': At a
two-hour hearing Wednesday, Bolanos also questioned whether a new trial was
warranted as a result of comments the plaintiff's attorney made to the jury —
that Monsanto executives would celebrate a winning verdict with "champagne
in the boardroom," that Monsanto was like a tobacco company, and that the
jury had an opportunity to "change the world" by deciding against
Monsanto.
But the judge has yet to issue a final
ruling. The parties have until the end of today to submit further
briefing, and it's an open question when Bolanos will announce a final
decision.
"The company continues to believe that the
evidence at trial does not support the verdict and the damage awards,"
Bayer said in a statement. A spokeswoman for the law firm representing Dewayne
Johnson, the former groundskeeper, said the ruling "is tentative until it
becomes final" and argued it was issued before the judge heard arguments
from both sides. [POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, October 12, 2018]
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| UNIONS |
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| CYBERSECURITY |
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| NATURE & OUTDOORS |
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| READ |
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| EUROPE |
EU MOVES QUICKLY TO GET U.S. BEEF TALKS
UNDERWAY: The
European Union is eager to move forward on negotiations with the U.S. that
would open up a larger share of its hormone-free beef quota to American
ranchers. Representatives of EU member states in Brussels are expected to
approve a mandate today that lays out the negotiating parameters for the
European Commission, which negotiates on behalf of the 28-nation bloc. EU trade
ministers could give approval next week, two EU diplomats told our POLITICO EU
colleague Hans von der Burchard.
"We want to negotiate swiftly," one trade attaché
said, while a second one remarked that the mandate had passed the Council
remarkably fast for a trade issue dealing with the sensitive topic of beef.
"There's clearly an ambition to show goodwill toward the United
States" and prevent President Donald Trump from returning to tariff
threats, such as hitting a 25 percent levy on European cars, the official said.
A dry-aged dispute: The U.S. threatened
tariffs last year after it accused the EU of violating a 2009 peace agreement
that ended a years-long World Trade Organization dispute over the EU's ban on
hormone-treated beef. To avoid tariffs almost 10 years ago, Brussels
established a quota of 45,000 metric tonnes (nearly 50,000 in U.S. tons) of
hormone-free beef but lower-cost producers in Australia and Uruguay quickly
crowded out U.S. ranchers.
America first: The Commission has
said that it wants to allocate a certain share of the quota exclusively to
American farmers. U.S. producers have already demanded that it get 35,000 tons
annually. That means less meat from Australia and Uruguay, which are already
strongly protesting (Australia last year used about 17,000 tons of the beef
quota). [POLITICO's Morning Trade, October 10, 2018]
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| GERMANY |
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| BULGARIA |
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| CHINA |
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| NORTH KOREA |
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