Mentionable News

Keaton_James · September 26, 2019, 5:52am

Dude, who says we can’t be bi-partisan?

I’m posting this in “Mentionable,” but it’s actually a big deal. If this passes the Senate in similar bi-partisan fashion, it will be a game changer for marijuana businesses. It would help Ma & Pa outfits, but it would also mean that big corporations could safely enter the game. This has the potential to really shakeup the industry.

Republicans in Congress, who have stonewalled pro-marijuana legislation for years, are now emerging as the cannabis industry’s most valuable allies.

In a historic vote Wednesday, 91 Republicans joined 229 Democrats to pass legislation that would finally give marijuana businesses access to banks — a critical tool that the industry needs to grow.
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Now, the seal of approval by so many Republicans is giving the bill’s backers real hope that the Republican-led Senate will pass the legislation in some fashion. …

Windthin · September 26, 2019, 7:43pm

US to deploy 200 personnel, missile system to Saudi Arabia

Keaton_James · September 26, 2019, 10:02pm

Can we be sure this was done to benefit our country?

Or was it done to personally benefit our President?

Simple answer: We have no way of knowing.

Windthin · September 26, 2019, 11:30pm

As far as Trump believes, the country is the president. Everything and anything can personally benefit him. And we’re going to help Saudi Arabia murder more people.

I knew Jamal Khashoggi would not be the last.

Windthin · September 27, 2019, 5:03am

Say… WHAT?

U.S. invokes state secrets privilege to block American journalist’s challenge to alleged spot on drone ‘kill list’

“For the first time ever, a United States federal court ruled that the government may kill one of its citizens without providing him the information necessary to prove that he is being wrongly targeted and does not deserve to die,”

Keaton_James · September 27, 2019, 5:23am

Just “mentionable news” from this June or something more significant? Maybe we’ll find out.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy has held a conversation with Jared Kushner, senior adviser to U.S President Donald Trump. The meeting took place in Brussels on Tuesday as part of the dinner at the Permanent Mission of the United States to the EU.

“Yes, President Zelenskiy spoke with Kushner. They discussed a wide range of issues, ranging from security to energy,” a source in the Presidential Administration of Ukraine told Interfax-Ukraine.

The dinner was also attended by U.S. Secretary of State for Energy Rick Perry, Polish President Andrzej Duda, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze.

jonathantholt · September 27, 2019, 2:21pm

Hi, I’m ve been mostly a lurker for a while now and avid listener of the podcast. I’ve been trying to digest all that has been happening over the past few days and have also been going over conservative sources to get a sense of what Republicans are making of all this. I ran across this article on the hill, which I think is fairly reliable? That I am not sure what to make of. So far most news stories I’ve seen, including the intercept, have noted that this stuff with Biden was mostly conspiracy theories. But this article seems to argue differently. Not sure how to weigh the evidence given.

Pet_Proletariat · September 27, 2019, 3:21pm

@jonathantholt

welcome

I wouldn’t put to much weight to this op-ed by John Solomon. He’s just a right-wing political commentator. The President has already admitted to and released the memo of his phone conversation with Zelensky, that’s the heart of the scandal.

The president asked a foreign country to aid his political campaign in return for releasing the funds allocated by Congress. That’s misuse of office and a illegal in-kind campaign contribution. This is a clear cut impeachable offense. The President cannot use his office to extort other countries into helping him with his re-election campaign.

No evidence has surfaced of actual wrongdoing by Vice President Joe Biden. And it wouldn’t matter because President Trump already released and admitted to what happened. Any other wrongdoing by anyone else would be a separate matter entirely.

In times like these my best advice is to avoid all op-ed and cable news like the plague. Stick to the facts and read broadly but mostly reputable newspapers.

@matt made a great tool for daily news watching, I highly recommend it. Check it out

jonathantholt · September 27, 2019, 3:21pm

Aside from this being an op-ed is the hill generally reliable? I have heard mixed things and yavwnt really read it much.

Pet_Proletariat · September 27, 2019, 3:27pm

The Hill is ok. Sometimes they’ll have a nugget or two but I wouldn’t cite them alone but in chorus with other papers, unless they get a scoop or interview. They do have a high factual reporting rating.

Windthin · September 27, 2019, 3:37pm

I had normally seen them as more right-slanted, though they do seem to have slid left. They’re generally reliable, but you must ALWAYS watch out for op-eds from any source; editorial staff is often more conservative than the journalism branch, and many outlets will publish op-eds from non-staff in an apparent effort to seem balanced; it’s a favorite trick of the right to invade these spaces. The NYT, for instance, has some solid writers, but also some notoriously bad ones, and a history of bad and even horrifying op-eds at odds with its frequently devastatingly-good reporting,

Windthin · September 27, 2019, 7:51pm

Even Putin Is Now Worried About Climate Change

Russia has dropped its doubts about joining the Paris accords.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-09-24/putin-is-finally-worried-about-climate-change?fbclid=IwAR0v3WqKXu-E9VxtZU7PfBNVy9j-EiT5JDhFYgOuHiF6_cYgNOjHSBib-HM

There are moments when I am grateful for Trump’s incompetence. This is one of them:

At a closed-door meeting this summer, oil and gas industry lawyers criticized the Trump regime’s failure to recruit enough qualified people to secure policy victories that would outlast this presidency.

Windthin · September 27, 2019, 9:09pm

Stories like this show that it’s not just elected officials, but their impact on judicial appts that makes 2020 so crucial.

Federal judge blocks Trump administration from detaining migrant children for indefinite periods

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/federal-judge-blocks-trump-administration-from-detaining-migrant-children-for-indefinite-periods/2019/09/27/49a39790-e15f-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html

Keaton_James · September 30, 2019, 4:38am

In addition to his trade war, Trump is harming farmers in two new ways:

1) Biofuel waivers are reducing demand for corn and soybeans.

2) The trade deal with Japan is no better than what farmers had under Obama and in the meantime they’ve suffered under useless tariffs.

The trade war with China has been particularly painful for American farmers, but a separate issue is currently straining their support for the administration: biofuel.

The leaders of 23 corn grower organizations sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Friday, arguing that his administration’s biofuel waivers have reduced demand for their crops.

"Frustration in the countryside is growing," the letter reads.

In August, the Environmental Protection Agency granted 31 waivers to small refineries, temporarily exempting them from biofuel laws. The waivers free refineries from having to blend biofuels like ethanol into their gasoline.

Corn growers immediately voiced their concerns and Trump later tweeted that a “giant” ethanol package was in the works.

“The Farmers are going to be so happy when they see what we are doing for Ethanol,” Trump tweeted.

But, a month later, they appear tired of waiting for the details to be finalized. In the letter, growers said that a rising number of ethanol plants are closing or reducing production, costing more than 2,700 jobs. If refineries are using fewer soybeans and corn, it drags down the price farmers can get for their crops.
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Earlier in the week, farm groups applauded the Trump administration for signing a new trade deal with Japan. It will open up markets for US beef, pork, wheat and other agricultural produce.

“This is a huge victory for America’s farmers, ranchers, and growers, and that’s very important to me,” Trump said at a press conference Wednesday.

But while American pork producers say they’re happy about the deal, it only gives them about the same level of access to the Japanese market as they would have gotten under the Obama-era Trans-Pacific Partnership in the first place. Trump pulled out of the 11-country deal as one of his first acts as President, opting for a bilateral agreement instead.

Windthin · September 30, 2019, 5:38pm

Up to 4 feet of snow have buried Montana in an utterly unprecedented early winter storm.

If he wasn’t so busy, Trump would be guffawing about “global warming”, but unpredictable weather extremes like ARE indeed the product of dangerous climate change.

Windthin · October 3, 2019, 5:45pm

Just whose side is this guy on? It doesn’t feel like it’s Trump’s.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to Farmers: Get a Bigger Farm or Do Something Else

“In America, the big get bigger and the small go out. I don’t think in America we, for any small business, we have a guaranteed income or guaranteed profitability.”

‘Unacceptable’: Family Farms, Ag Advocates Hit Back After Sec Perdue Says Small Dairy Farms Destined to Die

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers says Trump’s ag secretary ‘put a pox’ on state’s signature industry

U.S. Agriculture Secretary: Family farms might not survive

dragonfly9 · October 3, 2019, 8:09pm

Fox’s Shep Smith is calling out what T’s most blatant and illegal acts have been.

dragonfly9 · October 4, 2019, 2:44am

‘We’re the discombobulators,’

dragonfly9 · October 4, 2019, 6:32pm

I follow a few reporters and a WH photographer who took these shots in the past couple days. Interesting behind-the-scenes imagery that describe all the craziness.

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Windthin · October 5, 2019, 1:43am

Another in a long line of racist, cruel Jim Crow-like tests to punish immigrants!

Trump Will Deny Immigrant Visas to Those Who Can’t Pay for Health Care

Visa applicants will have to prove they have insurance or the financial resources for medical costs.

Immigrants who enter this country should not further saddle our health care system, and subsequently American taxpayers, with higher costs,” Trump wrote on Friday.