Topic: Farm Bill

A federal bill is moving toward legalizing industrial hemp for the first time in 80 years as part of the 2018 Farm Bill. The hosts discuss the economic potential of the CBD market and the historical reasons for hemp's prohibition. Dvorak attributes the original ban to William Randolph Hearst's desire to protect his timber investments from hemp-based paper competition.

Congress passed an $860 billion Farm Bill with little public outcry compared to the debate over border wall funding. The legislation includes extensive commodity compensation and subsidies, even allowing second cousins of farmers to be eligible for payments. The massive scale of the bill is noted as a contrast to the political standoff over the $5 billion requested for the border wall.

The hosts discuss the "misuse" of weather events to promote global warming narratives, specifically regarding the lack of snow in Sochi and the drought in California. They suggest that California officials may be incentivized to maintain a "drought emergency" status to continue receiving federal funds from the farm bill and disaster relief programs.

CBS News and other outlets have begun reporting on a "dairy cliff," warning that milk prices could spike to $8 per gallon if the Farm Bill is not addressed. The hosts dismiss this as a manufactured crisis designed to distract the public from the actual fiscal cliff and debt ceiling negotiations.

On the one-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, reports indicate that only five percent of the rubble has been cleared while 1.3 million people remain in tents. The Clinton Foundation is criticized for allocating only $11.5 million to recovery despite massive global donations. Allegations are made that relief funds were stolen or mismanaged, with resources being diverted to mango farming instead of essential rice imports and cholera prevention.