KARMA IS A BITCH

Hurricane Idalia causes massive oak tree to fall on DeSantis mansion

Casey DeSantis was inside the home when the tree fell, along with her three children

OH ARE THEY NOT HIS?

By KELLY MCCLURE

Nights & Weekends Editor
PUBLISHED AUGUST 30, 2023

As Hurricane Idalia wreaks havoc in the Florida area, the heads of state are impacted as well. According to a report from CBS News, a 100-year-old tree oak fell on Governor Ron DeSantis' mansion in Tallahassee, Florida while he was away hosting press conferences for updates on the very hurricane that did damage to his own home, ironically. During the scare, Casey DeSantis and their three children were inside, but no one was reported to have been injured.

The governor and GOP candidate for president re-located with his family to the mansion in 2019, upon election to office. The original structure was built in 1907 and rebuilt in 1955 to fix structural issues.

"Our prayers are with everyone impacted by the storm," Mrs. DeSantis wrote to X after the event, sharing a photo of the fallen tree.

During an afternoon press conference, reporters asked DeSantis about what happened and he relayed information from his wife, who phoned to tell him all about it. "I guess it's a really ancient oak tree split in half," he said. "And part of it fell. I don't know that it fell on the residence per se. It was a little bit off to the side. So that's going to be cleared . . . If they do cut down the whole tree, that's just going to be more room for my kids to hit baseballs in. And so in some respects for us, even though the tree was nice, we'll probably make do and be quite all right."

Hurricane Idalia sends massive tree crashing into DeSantis' home

Sky Palma
August 30, 2023,

Twitter/Casey DeSantis

Hurricane Idalia sent a massive tree crashing into Governor Ron DeSantis Florida home as his wife and three children cowered inside, Florida's First Lady Casey DeSantis tweeted Wednesday.

The 100-year-old oak smashed into the roof of the governor's mansion in Tallahassee. Nobody was hurt, the First Lady said.

The storm came ashore near Keaton Beach, on Florida's northwest coast, as a category 3 Wednesday morning, bringing winds as high as 125 mph.

"100 year old oak tree falls on the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee," Casey DeSantis wrote, sharing a picture of the downed tree. "Mason, Madison, Mamie and I were home at the time, but thankfully no one was injured. Our prayers are with everyone impacted by the storm."

DeSantis, who is running to become the Republican presidential nominee, was not at home.

The Tallahassee Democrat reported that as many as 44,000 customers were without power this Wednesday morning, but the power was quickly restored by the city.

CUTS NOSE 2 SPITE FACE

DeSantis refuses $350m from Biden’s climate fund to help Florida residents with energy rebates

Story by Rozina Sabur •12h

Ron DeSantis vetoed the grant which would pay for energy efficiency incentives 

- Brian Snyder/Reuters© Provided by The Telegraph

Governor Ron DeSantis has refused up to $350 million (£275 million) in funding for Florida from Joe Biden’s flagship climate legislation, prompting fury from lawmakers in his state.

The move by Mr DeSantis, who is seeking the presidency in 2024, could deal a significant blow to Mr Biden’s economic agenda.

The president’s Inflation Reduction Act was passed by Congress in 2022 and includes $783 billion in tax credits and funding to incentivise green energy projects to tackle climate change.

Florida was eligible for around $350 million in energy efficiency incentives under the legislation, which included rebates that went directly to customers.

The state’s Republican-controlled legislature requested and approved a grant for the programme but it was vetoed by Mr DeSantis.

It would have allowed the state’s residents to access $346 million to help cover the upfront costs of upgrading their homes, buying energy efficient appliances such as heat pumps and lowering their energy costs.

POWER WENT OUT DURING BROADCAST

The move came as Hurricane Idalia left 250,000 homes without power and properties submerged on Wednesday© Provided by The Telegraph

Mr DeSantis also turned down $3 million in funding to help the state fight pollution and a programme which would have paid to help low-income residents access solar panels.

Kathy Castor, a Democratic congresswoman representing Florida’s 14th district, accused Mr DeSantis of pursuing his own agenda as he seeks the White House in 2024.

She said: “It feels like we have been pickpocketed by a governor who is elevating his political interests over the people’s interests.”

Another Florida congressman, Darren Soto, said: “He’s senselessly making the state more vulnerable. A lot of other states that are majority Republican haven’t been this foolish.”

Mr DeSantis’ move effectively creates a blockade of Mr Biden’s landmark legislation in one of the country’s most populous states.

The $454 billion (£357 billion) bill was the president’s flagship measure to tackle climate change, reform tax codes and subsidise healthcare.

Mr Biden has toured the country this summer to mark the legislation’s first anniversary and tout its success, in the belief it could prove critical to holding Congress and the White House in 2024’s election.
Declined smaller sums

But Mr DeSantis’ veto could have a ripple effect, and encourage other Republican governors to weaponise the funding and effectively blunt its impact.

So far, Mr DeSantis is the only governor to block energy rebates but other Republican leaders have declined smaller sums for other climate-fighting projects.

“It’s unfortunate that some officials are putting politics ahead of delivering meaningful progress for hard-working Americans,” Michael Kikukawa, White House spokesman, told Politico.

“Despite this, President Biden and his administration are working with cities, counties, businesses, non-profits and other entities in the Sunshine State to ensure Floridians benefit from the lower costs and stronger economy delivered by his agenda.”

White House officials reportedly believe Florida will ultimately access the rebates but believes Mr DeSantis could wait until after the Republican presidential primary – or even the 2024 general election – before reversing course.

Two years on, Afghanistan still beset with U.S.-inflicted war traumas

2023-August-31 

By: Xinhua


With military expansion and coercive financial ploy, Washington trampled Afghanistan's land and wrecked its economy.

The 20-year occupation of Afghanistan by the United States is still claiming Afghan lives and upending livelihoods.

The U.S. invasion and occupation have created a "blackhole" in Afghanistan's economy by sucking up a lot of wealth that now remains unaccounted for.

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Two years have passed since U.S.-led coalition forces fled Afghanistan helter-skelter, but the war-inflicted traumas are still haunting the chaotic country.

The longest war in U.S. history ended with a dismal withdrawal after the last military transport plane took off from the Kabul International Airport on Aug. 30, 2021.

With military expansion and coercive financial ploy, Washington trampled Afghanistan's land and wrecked its economy, not least by plundering the wealth of the Afghan people and ensnaring the nation in a cycle of stagnation and decline.


This photo taken on Feb. 8, 2023 shows residents in a cave-turned shelter next to the Buddha site in central Afghanistan's Bamyan province. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

CRISIS PERSISTS

More than 174,000 people died directly in the war in Afghanistan, according to a report of the Brown University. What's more, the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan by the United States is still claiming Afghan lives and upending livelihoods.

Large areas of land where Afghans used to farm are now useless, as countless ordnance, including the bomblets of notorious cluster bombs, were left under the soil by the U.S. troops, who never had any intention of clearing them.

The Pentagon has called back its "patriots" while doing nothing to clean up their mess. The "humanitarian aid" the White House bragged about has also turned out to be nothing but propaganda.

Blasts of these unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from the U.S. troops have been and are about to be claiming the lives of Afghans for years or even decades.

The UXO have killed and injured tens of thousands of Afghans, especially children, as they travel and go about their daily chores, according to a report from the "Costs of War" project under the Brown University.

Khudai Rahim, a 54-year-old Afghan, lost two sons in blasts in 2021, and his third son was severely injured in a mine blast in 2022 just around their village.

"He (The third son) found a mine. It might be a mortar mine, and he played with it. He was a child and didn't know what that was, but the object exploded and badly injured his belly," said Rahim, a resident of Rigretion village in Farah Rod district, Farah Province.

The left-over mines have been killing people nearly every day, said Sadiq Shinwari, an Afghan military expert.

Children are the most vulnerable victims of the UXO, said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in its report. And 640 children were killed or injured in 541 incidents involving landmine explosions and explosive remnants between January 2022 and June 2023, nearly 60 percent of the total civilian casualties of UXO-related explosions in Afghanistan.

The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan had "serious consequences" for the viability of the U.S.-backed Afghan government, reported Qatar-based Al Jazeera in July, citing an internal review from the U.S. State Department.

"During both administrations (U.S. President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump), there was insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios," the review read.

During the withdrawal of the U.S. troops in late August 2021, a suicide bombing orchestrated by the Afghan branch of the terrorist organization Islamic State resulted in the loss of at least 175 lives, including 13 U.S. service members.


This photo taken on July 15, 2023 shows a view of Qala-e-Shatir village, where the U.S. forces dropped cluster bombs in 2001, in Herat City of west Afghanistan's Herat province. (Photo by Mashal/Xinhua)

ECONOMIC BLACKHOLE

The U.S. invasion and occupation have created a "blackhole" in Afghanistan's economy by sucking up a lot of wealth that now remains unaccounted for.

According to the latest United Nations Strategic Framework for Afghanistan released in early July, Afghanistan's economy contracted by about 30 percent between 2020 and 2022. There are 24.4 million Afghan people in need of humanitarian assistance, and a staggering nine out of 10 people live in poverty.

Agriculture has been the first victim of the war-ravaged country's economic sectors, as large areas of farmland are peppered with countless ordnance left under the soil by the U.S. troops.

Sadiq Shinwari, an Afghan military expert, told Xinhua that unexploded bombs have led to grave consequences for Afghanistan's agriculture, on which the landlocked country's economy is mainly dependent.

An electricity-generating facility, including several rows of diesel storage tanks, in the southern city of Kandahar has been abandoned and is no longer in use. Some roads the United States had built were bombarded beyond recognition by the U.S. troops.

The real economic and social impact on the locals was the last thing Washington would consider before hastily pulling its troops out.

"We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build. And it's the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country," U.S. President Joe Biden said in a briefing on the U.S. army's withdrawal from Afghanistan in July 2021.

The dire situation worsened following the Biden administration's decision to freeze some 7 billion U.S. dollars' worth of assets of Afghanistan's central bank.

The truth is that weaponizing the dollar has resulted in rising prices, less imports of living necessities, and a paralyzed financial system in Afghanistan. Even in the most-developed city Kabul, there has been no municipal water supply system, urban public transport, or sufficient power supply. Many Afghans live in adobe dwellings on the mountains.


A man shows the damage of a house destroyed by bombs dropped by U.S. forces in Hesarak District of Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, July 30, 2023. 

(Photo by Aimal Zahir/Xinhua)

BRUTAL U.S. SANCTIONS

The White House decided in February last year to use the Afghan central bank's frozen assets to compensate the families of victims of the 9/11 attacks. Biden issued a decree, allocating 3.5 billion dollars of the frozen sum to the use of compensation.

The decision has been widely condemned in Afghanistan. Afghan citizens are not able to withdraw money from the banks or afford escalating prices brought about by sanctions.

More than 22 million out of its 35 million population, according to aid agencies' reports, are facing acute food shortage and Afghanistan would face humanitarian catastrophe if not assisted.

"Our country has been facing daunting challenges due to foreign interference over the past four decades of wars," said another Afghan citizen Sayed Shahir.

The brutal sanctions have hindered foreign direct investment and imports, and the Afghan health system has been crumbling due to less medicine and international aid.

Aqa Mohammad Shirzad, head of the malnutrition ward of the Kabul-based Indira Ghandi Institute of Child Health, told Xinhua that before the sanctions, the hospital used to admit around 600 malnourished children every year. Since the sanctions took effect, that number has doubled.

Aid agencies have predicted that a record 28.3 million people, around two-thirds of the country's population, will need humanitarian assistance in 2023, with 6 million of them already perilously close to famine.

The sanctions have also made it difficult for humanitarian aid to reach the ravaged country, since they have further worsened the already broken economy of cash-strapped Afghanistan.

Martin Schuepp, director of operations of the ICRC, told Xinhua in November last year that the U.S.-initiated sanctions imposed on the Taliban-run establishment in Afghanistan have undermined vital humanitarian aid supply to the struggling country.

"When people in Bamyan are in dire need of support, the sanctions have added to the pain of people, undermined supplying humanitarian assistance," said Mawlawi Shakir Tahir, director of provincial Natural Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs.

Editor: ZAD

SHADES OF WWII
US in talks to develop PH port facing Taiwan
Philippine Daily Inquirer / August 31, 2023


Batanes Governor Marilou Cayco during her courtesy visit to Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco last August 2, 2023 at the Department of Tourism (DOT) Central Office in Makati City | PHOTO: Department of Tourism’s official facebook page

MANILA—The US military is in talks to develop a civilian port in the remote northernmost islands of the Philippines, the local governor and two other officials told Reuters, a move that would boost American access to strategically located islands facing Taiwan.

US military involvement in the proposed port in the Batanes islands, less than 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Taiwan, could stoke tensions at a time of growing friction with China and a drive by Washington to intensify its long-standing defense treaty engagement with the Philippines.

The Bashi Channel between those islands and Taiwan is considered a choke point for vessels moving between the western Pacific and the contested South China Sea and a key waterway in the case of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The Chinese military regularly sends ships and aircraft through the channel, Taiwan’s defense ministry has said.
Request for funding

Marilou Cayco, the provincial governor of the Batanes islands, told Reuters in a message she had sought funding from the United States for the building of an “an alternative port” there, which was intended to assist the unloading of cargo from the capital, Manila, during rough seas in the monsoon season.

She said the plans were to build a port on Basco island, where local authorities say high waves often make the existing port inaccessible, and that a decision could be made in October.

The Philippines has in the past year almost doubled the number of its military bases that US forces can access, ostensibly for humanitarian assistance, and also has thousands of US troops in the country at any given time, rotating in and out for joint training exercises. China has said these US moves were “stoking the fire” of regional tensions.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposed port in Basco.
Recent visit

Two other Filipino officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said US troops had visited Batanes recently to discuss the port.

One, a senior military official, said the Filipino armed forces were interested in radar and improving monitoring capabilities in the area.

Cayco confirmed the visit, saying they came “one time to assess” the proposed alternative port.

The move comes as Washington pursues closer ties with Asian nations to counter China in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines, its former colony and treaty ally.

Kanishka Gangopadhyay, a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Manila, said US Embassy and US Army Pacific (Usarpac) experts had been engaging the governor and local government, “at their request, to discuss ways Usarpac can support engineering, medical and agricultural development projects in the province.”

He did not mention the port specifically.

More US access

Previous President Rodrigo Duterte had threatened to scrap the US-Philippines alliance and realign the country with Beijing but relations between China and the Philippines have grown tense under the current president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Marcos, the son and namesake of the disgraced late strongman president, has sought closer ties with Washington, granting it access to four more military bases, including several close to Taiwan, though not in Batanes, and announced joint patrols in the South China Sea.

Marcos has said the bases under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement could prove useful if China attacked Taiwan.
Inevitable

Security officials in Manila said they believed any military conflict in the Taiwan Strait would inevitably affect the Philippines, given its geographic proximity to Taiwan and the presence of over 150,000 Filipinos on the democratically governed island.

Batanes also served as one of the training sites during this year’s joint military exercises, known as “Balikatan,” which involved more than 17,000 Filipino and American troops, making it the biggest ever edition of the military drill.

At the time of the exercise, Cayco said she was seeking investment to build seaports and airports in the island province that is home to 18,000 people. The province could harbor Filipinos fleeing Taiwan if conflict breaks out there and residents have been worried about mounting tensions, according to local government officials.

The Philippines and China have also clashed in recent months over disputed waters in the South China Sea, with Chinese vessels firing water cannons on a Filipino vessel trying to send supplies to an outpost.

Fall of Bataan & The Bataan Death March - Pacific War

 

Bataan (1943)

#WarnerArchive #WarnerBros #Bataan Bataan peninsula, 1942. Sgt. Bill Dane (Robert Taylor) and his 12 men face hopeless odds as the enemy pushes toward its inevitable conquest of the Philippines. They are cut off from reinforcements, weakened by malaria, hugely outnumbered. And, in this film, greatly remembered. Unlike many war-era films, this stirring saga tempers its heroics with the hard reality of history. Dane's mission: Hold a strategic bridge. The combat: fierce and unsparing. George Murphy, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Nolan, Robert Walker, Desi Arnaz and more join Taylor in this salute to American and Philippine forces who, as the movie notes, "may have done more than we'll ever know to save this whole world." Directed By Tay Garnett Starring Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Lloyd Nolan

PINCH HITTER

First lady Jill Biden seeks to leverage union support in Chicago for husband’s reelection and ‘Bidenomics’

By Rick Pearson
Chicago Tribune
•
Last Updated: Aug 30, 2023 

First lady Jill Biden, center, greets people after giving a speech at a Labor Day reception organized by the Chicago Federation of Labor at McCormick Place in Chicago, Aug. 30, 2023.

 (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

First lady Jill Biden used a pre-Labor Day celebration of Chicago’s labor unions Wednesday to leverage their support and sell her husband’s “Bidenomics” stimulus programs to voters who remain dissatisfied with the president’s job performance largely due to their feelings about the nation’s economy.

“My name is Jill Biden. I’m the first lady of the United States. And I’m a proud card-carrying union member,” the first lady, a community college teacher, said during a six-minute address to hundreds of labor leaders attending an outdoor reception overlooking Lake Michigan at McCormick Place.

“Unions are at the center of Joe’s need to build our economy from the bottom up and the middle out,” she said, using President Joe Biden’s description of his “Bidenomics” theory. “You are the backbone of this country.”

Since her husband launched the “Bidenomics” theme at a June 28 event at the Old Post Office in Chicago, the White House has sought to pitch economic successes of programs regarding infrastructure, clean air, computer chip research and other manufacturing to try to counter sluggish job approval ratings among an electorate still feeling the effects of inflation.

[ With ‘Bidenomics,’ President Biden aims for middle-class voters as he discusses economy during Chicago address ]

“Now hopefully you’ve been hearing about ‘Bidenomics,’” she said. “Joe’s vision has transformed our economy. More than 13 million jobs created. Unemployment under 4%.”

President Biden has long courted labor support throughout his political career and it is a key ally in his bid for reelection next year.

Bob Reiter, head of the Chicago Federation of Labor, which hosted the event, reminded the guests of Biden’s vow to be the most “pro-union” president in the nation’s history.

“Things like unemployment rates and jobs created aren’t just numbers to us. They represent people, families like Joe’s when he was just growing up, like mine, maybe like yours,” Jill Biden said.

“President Biden and I understand the middle class because we are from the middle class and unions built the middle class,” she said. “That is why Joey is fighting for unions: so that workers can fight for what they need — better pay, safer working conditions, flexibility and health care.”

Reiter cited organized labor gains over the last year that included voter approval of a state constitutional amendment enshrining a right to organize, the election of union organizer Brandon Johnson as mayor and the city’s history in the labor movement that helped Chicago gain the Democratic National Convention next year.

Jill Biden’s visit was the latest in a series of recent White House-backed trips by various officials over the last two months and was her first to the area since she visited Rolling Meadows High School in November.

On Wednesday, she traveled from the Indianapolis area as part of a back-to-school tour and, after overnighting in Chicago, is scheduled to go to Madison, Wisconsin, for a cancer prevention event Thursday.


rap30@aol.com
Originally Published: Aug 30, 2023 

Would A U.S. Free Trade Deal Force New Zealand To Adopt GE? JUST ASK MEXICO

Thursday, 31 August 2023, 
Press Release: GE Free NZ

GE AKA GMO

Three political parties, National, ACT and TOP, have declared that if they win the election they will “end the ban on GE”. This would allow them to progress a U.S. Free Trade agreement signalled at the last election. It cannot, however, be negotiated until New Zealand deregulates genetic engineered organisms (GE). [1]

“We should be very suspicious about any Free Trade deals that requires interference with our sovereignty,” said Claire Bleakley. “We cannot compromise our economy by allowing the deregulation and release of GE organisms into the environment, when the science shows there are so many risks and unknown effects.” [2]

The US aggressively markets their bioengineered innovations around GE food plants and challenges any move that threatens the potential to disrupt trade into the market. This was apparent when the US and Canada disputed a Mexican Supreme Court ruling on GE corn. [3] The Canadian Government chose to disregard the Canadian Farmers Union who opposed Canada’s stand.”[4]

Concerns arose when Mexico detected their indigenous landrace corn/maize seeds were becoming contaminated with GE corn, which, if sold or regrown, could trigger proprietary patent rights. [5]

The Mexican Government made a decree banning the importation of GE corn for the food supply, [6] in response to the Supreme Court decision. In 2020, the Mexican Supreme Court upheld a class action law suit, calling for a ban on the importation of GE corn. The law suit was taken by a collective of 57 Mexican businesses, organisations and indigenous people. It was opposed by Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta, Pioneer-Dupont, and Dow Agrosciences. The Supreme Court ruled that the indigenous collective must be able to grow their native corn without the threat of GE contamination [7].

Internationally, Mexico has the highest number of corn/maize varieties and is the centre of the traditional maize landraces. The cultivation of corn can be traced back 6,500 years. Indigenous Mexican people are very reliant on maize as a staple food source. Their dependence is economic, essential for food security and has a spiritual significance.

References
[1] https://foe.org/resources/ge-soil-microbes/
[2] https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/112848743/national-want-free-trade-agreement-with-the-us-bypass-un-for-sanctions
[3] https://halifax.citynews.ca/2023/08/25/canada-to-join-u-s-trade-fight-with-mexico-over-genetically-modified-corn-products/
[4] https://www.nfu.ca/nfu-asks-canada-not-to-join-us-mexico-gm-corn-dispute-panel/ 
[5]https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/the-patent-landscape-of-genetically-modified-organisms/
[6] https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-says-wont-modify-decree-gm-corn-ahead-usmca-panel-2023-08-21/
[7] https://www.resilience.org/stories/2021-12-08/mexico-scores-historic-legal-victory-in-defense-of-native-corn/
 

© Scoop Media

US Senators hail federal recommendation to ease restrictions on marijuana


Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks Aug. 1 at the State Department in Washington. On Wednesday, his department recommended that restrictions on marijuana be eased.
(Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

AUG. 30, 2023 

WASHINGTON — 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has delivered a recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Administration on marijuana policy, and Senate leaders hailed it Wednesday as a first step toward easing federal restrictions on the drug.

Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said Wednesday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that his agency has responded to President Biden’s request “to provide a scheduling recommendation for marijuana to the DEA.”

“We’ve worked to ensure that a scientific evaluation be completed and shared expeditiously,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said in a statement that Health and Human Services had recommended that marijuana be moved from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance.

“HHS has done the right thing,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “DEA should now follow through on this important step to greatly reduce the harm caused by draconian marijuana laws.”


CALIFORNIA
Legal Weed, Broken Promises: A Times series on the fallout of legal pot in California


Rescheduling the drug would reduce or potentially eliminate criminal penalties for possession. As a Schedule I drug, marijuana is currently classified alongside heroin and LSD.

According to the DEA, Schedule I drugs “have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.”

Schedule III drugs “have a potential for abuse less than substances in Schedules I or II and abuse may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence.” They currently include ketamine and some anabolic steroids


Biden requested the review in October 2022 as he pardoned thousands of Americans convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana under federal law.


Biden pardons thousands convicted on federal marijuana possessi

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) issued a statement calling for marijuana to be completely descheduled.

“However, the recommendation of HHS to reschedule cannabis as a Schedule III drug is not inconsequential,” he added. “If HHS’s recommendation is ultimately implemented, it will be a historic step for a nation whose cannabis policies have been out of touch with reality.”

Bloomberg News first reported on the Health and Human Services Department recommendation.

In reaction to the Bloomberg report, the nonprofit U.S. Cannabis Council said: “We enthusiastically welcome today’s news. ... Rescheduling will have a broad range of benefits, including signaling to the criminal justice system that cannabis is a lower priority and providing a crucial economic lifeline to the cannabis industry.”

 

US health dept recommends to move marijuana 

to lower-risk drug category

AP |

Aug 31, 2023 

Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has delivered a recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Administration on marijuana policy, and Senate leaders hailed it Wednesday as a first step toward easing federal restrictions on the drug.

Rescheduling the drug would reduce or potentially eliminate criminal penalties for possession.(Unsplash)

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said Wednesday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the agency has responded to President Joe Biden's request “to provide a scheduling recommendation for marijuana to the DEA.”

“We’ve worked to ensure that a scientific evaluation be completed and shared expeditiously,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that HHS had recommended that marijuana be moved from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance.

Also Read| Cannabis: Americans insist marijuana should be legal. Here's why

“HHS has done the right thing,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “DEA should now follow through on this important step to greatly reduce the harm caused by draconian marijuana laws.”

Rescheduling the drug would reduce or potentially eliminate criminal penalties for possession. Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD.

According to the DEA, Schedule I drugs "have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse."

Schedule III drugs “have a potential for abuse less than substances in Schedules I or II and abuse may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence.” They currently include ketamine and some anabolic steroids.

Biden requested the review in October 2022 as he pardoned thousands of Americans convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana under federal law.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued a statement calling for marijuana to be completely descheduled. “However, the recommendation of HHS to reschedule cannabis as a Schedule III drug is not inconsequential," he added. “If HHS’s recommendation is ultimately implemented, it will be a historic step for a nation whose cannabis policies have been out of touch with reality.”

Bloomberg News first reported on the HHS recommendation.

In reaction to the Bloomberg report, the nonprofit U.S. Cannabis Council said: “We enthusiastically welcome today’s news. ... Rescheduling will have a broad range of benefits, including signaling to the criminal justice system that cannabis is a lower priority and providing a crucial economic lifeline to the cannabis industry.”

US health department recommends looser restrictions on cannabis

PublishedShare

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

By Max Matza

BBC News, Seattle

The US Department of Health and Human Services has called on the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to loosen federal rules on cannabis.

The drug is illegal at the federal level despite 40 of 50 US states having passed laws legalising its use in some form.

Cannabis is currently listed in the same class of drugs as heroin and LSD.

If the DEA changes its classification, it could mark the most significant shift in US drug policy in decades.

Cannabis is currently classified as a schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning it has no medical use and a high chance of abuse.

The change to schedule 3 would align it with drugs listed as having a low potential for dependency and abuse. Ketamine, codeine, and anabolic steroids fall under that classification.

Last year, President Joe Biden asked his attorney general and health secretary to oversee a review on whether cannabis should be listed as a less serious drug.

The proposal was presented to the DEA by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Tuesday.

"As part of this process, HHS conducted a scientific and medical evaluation for consideration by DEA," the agency said in a statement.

"DEA has the final authority to schedule or reschedule a drug under the Controlled Substances Act. DEA will now initiate its review."

The HHS, in its statement, said "this administrative process was completed in less than 11 months, reflecting this department's collaboration and leadership to ensure that a comprehensive scientific evaluation be completed and shared expeditiously".

• What Biden's cannabis review means for Americans
• Making it big selling legal weed is harder than it looks

The recommendation stops short of removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act's list altogether. Some advocates have pushed the administration to de-schedule the drug, meaning repeal it from the Controlled Substances Act and regulate it in the same way as alcohol or tobacco.

Rescheduling it could open it up to further research and allow banking in the cannabis industry to operate more freely. Currently, most marijuana businesses in the US are forced to operate in cash, due to tax laws banning banks from handling money generated from certain drug sales.

Public opinion polling indicates that a majority of Americans support some form of legalisation of the drug.

Cannabis is legal for adult recreational use in 23 states, including all west coast states and in Washington DC. It is permitted for medical use in 38 states.

 

Corporate profits remained elevated in Q2

AuthorKevin DrumPublished onAugust 30, 2023 –on Corporate profits remained elevated in Q2

Nonfinancial corporate profits remained elevated in Q2 but were flat compared to Q1:

The pandemic turned out to be great for corporations, if for no one else, but the last few quarters have shown a slow decline since profits peaked in mid-2022. I wouldn't be surprised to see a further decline in Q3.