June 10, 2018
Pledges worth nearly $3 billion dollars (click here) to help vulnerable women and girls, including refugees, get an education were announced at a G7 summit on Saturday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who hosted his fellow leaders at a Quebec resort, called it “the single largest investment in education for women and girls in crisis and conflict situations.”
Canada will provide $300 million of the total....
I think the Iowa Republicans could have it right. It is time for Republicans to depart from the extremist element of the party and find their own message.
Iowa farmers are among the one group of Americans vital to feeding the USA and the world. Climate is paramount to their very success. The USA should be leading on climate, not failing the world.
Knowing Bolton and the fact he never considers climate a priority, the discussion of the importance of US farmland never took place. Fools in a fools paradise is what the US Republican Party has become.
The Democrats need to have a strong message for American farmers. Their position should be well researched and based in reality, not food stamps.
By Austin Cannon
On his way out of Congress, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., (click here) told hundreds of Iowa Republicans that they need to deliver their party’s message in the upcoming election at the Central Iowa Expo outside Boone on Saturday.
Even before taking the stage, he received an enthusiastic reception, and at least some attendees lamented his upcoming departure. While he won’t be there anymore, he gave the crowd his take on how to build a conservative movement in the federal government.
Gowdy, (click here) who serves as the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced in January that he’d be leaving office when his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives ends early next year. In announcing his retirement, he joined dozens of other Republicans — including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan of Wisconsin — who are also leaving Congress in 2019.
Iowa Farmland (click here)
And no, he told reporters Saturday, he’s not running for president. He told the media and later the crowd that he appeared at Sen. Joni Ernst’s annual Roast and Ride event because of his friendship for Iowa’s junior senator.
Gowdy’s appearance was a departure from the previous three Roast and Rides, which featured speakers like President Donald Trump (in 2016, before he took office), Vice President Mike Pence (2017) and several of the Republicans running for the 2016 presidential nomination (2015) — people either vying for public office or people already there and planning to stay, not someone like Gowdy....
US Drought Map (click here)
Iowa is considered part of the Midwest and not the High Plains. The cliamte crisis brings with it a new understanding about drought. Included now in drought assessments is "Flash drought" which occurs over a short period of time and not a decade or two.
As the surface of Earth heats, the incidence of evaporation of water increases. There are storms that pass over American land without dropping a single drop of water to the surface. The rain evaporates before it reaches the ground. The rain that does make it to the ground occurs in severe storms and torrential flooding.
...This week, severe drought (D2) was expanded across northwest Missouri, and approximately the eastern half of the moderate drought (D1) area in northern Missouri was expanded slightly southeastward. In Illinois, a north-south oriented, split band of heavy rain (3-6 inches) fell in the Peoria area very early in the drought week, associated with the departing remnants of Alberto. D0 was broadly expanded across a substantial portion of central and eastern Illinois, connecting up with the D0 over southwestern Indiana. This is related to the combination of short-term dryness and 90-degree temperatures, which appear to be causing water stress on corn and soybeans.
Incidentally, the importance of rapid loss of moisture through evaporation has become a very important consideration in early detection of flash drought; hence the increasing reliance upon the Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI). High values of the 2-week EDDI (ED1 to ED3) across the Corn Belt are indicative of significant moisture loss, which must be balanced against any moisture gains that occur through precipitation. It is the interplay between evaporation, high heat, rainfall, soil moisture, and wind speeds that has a significant bearing on accurate drought prediction....
