Marijuana Banking Bill Approved By Congressional Committee

Tom Sydow PHOTO: TOM SYDOW

Following multiple days of lengthy debate and consideration of several amendments, the House Financial Services Committee voted 45 to 15 to advance the legislation to the full body.

Floor action has not yet been scheduled, but cannabis reform advocates are hopeful that the committee approval of the banking bill is a sign Democrats are ready to move broad marijuana reforms this year.

Indeed, House Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern (D-MA) said in a radio interview on Wednesday that he expects the chamber to vote on legislation to end federal marijuana prohibition within a matter of “weeks.”

“We will guide it to the House floor for a vote, which I think it will pass with an overwhelming vote — Democrats and I think a lot of Republicans as well,” he said. “If we have a strong bipartisan vote that will increase the pressure on the Senate to do something.”

AIC's Lang Named CHN Coach of the Year

PRINCETON, N.J. — American International’s Eric Lang has been named College Hockey News Coach of the Year for 2018–19. Lang is the first coach from Atlantic Hockey to win the honor.

The Yellow Jackets are set to play their first-ever NCAA Tournament game this weekend, against St. Cloud State, coming off a season of other firsts. In just his third season at the helm, Lang led AIC to its first winning record as a full-fledged Division I team, its first Atlantic Hockey regular-season championship, and first Atlantic Hockey tournament championship. AIC earned the latter by winning two overtime games in the semifinals and finals last week in Buffalo.

Lang played at American International under long-time coach Gary Wright. He was an assistant at Army when Wright decided to step down following the 2015–16 season. Lang took over, and after an eight-win season, improved the Yellow Jackets to 15–20–4 last year, and now 22–16–1 this season.

Why we should discuss soil as much as we talk about coal

I’m done with cow farts.

I’ve written about them several times over the last six months, and I bring them up in polite conversation more than I should. In my defense, I have a legitimate reason: cow farts are a good example of something that contributes to climate change but isn’t related to generating electricity.

Most discussions about fighting climate change focus on electricity and the need for renewable energy. De-carbonizing the way we generate electricity would be a huge step, but it won’t be enough if we don’t reach zero net emissions from every sector of the economy within 50 years (and make a serious dent in the next ten). That includes the agriculture, forestry, and land use sector, which is responsible for 24 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions—just one percentage point less than electricity.

People’s Party Leader Maxime Bernier says those who disagree with policy on condemning attacks are ‘not welcome’ in his party

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier, pictured here on Jan. 27, 2019, said at a press conference on Parliament Hill Monday morning that he is not 'playing politics' with tragedies and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of exploiting the massacre by continuing to talk about the tragic event. GRAHAM HUGHES/THE CANADIAN PRESS

People’s Party Leader Maxime Bernier says it’s party policy not to comment on tragic events in other countries in the wake of criticism over his response to the deadly massacre at two mosques in New Zealand.

Mr. Bernier said at a press conference on Parliament Hill Monday morning that he is not “playing politics” with tragedies and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of exploiting the massacre by continuing to talk about the tragic event.

His comments come almost two weeks after the pair of deadly shootings in Christchurch that left 50 people dead. Facing criticism on Twitter for his silence, Mr. Bernier tweeted that “as a rule” he doesn’t comment on “these horrible tragedies in other countries.”

Unlike Canada, Australia embraces private sector to deliver universal health care

Canadian health policy discussions are often hobbled by the misunderstanding that universal health care means government health care.

Reality, however, looks quite different. Some combination of government, private non-profit organizations, and private for-profit insurers and hospitals forms the basis of the world’s finest universal access health-care systems.

Let’s be clear: No one is talking about abandoning universality here. What we are talking about is allowing the private for-profit sector a larger role in health care to help better deliver on the noble promise of access to quality care regardless of ability to pay, in a time frame that provides comfort and peace of mind (not to mention greater safety and lower mortality).

We recently examined the universal health-care systems in Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. Each of these countries deliver higher quality (more timely, better outcomes, or in many cases both) universal care for similar or lower costs than Canada. Unlike Canada however, these countries do not appear to be frozen by a fear of profit-making in health care. Rather, they have embraced private for-profit hospitals and insurers as part of their higher-performing approach to universality.

In this multi-part blog series, we present a brief characterization of each country’s universal health-care system, paying particular attention to the role of for-profit insurers and hospitals.

Part I: Universal health care in Australia

Ask Mr. Dad: The Dad Effect ... there’s more to fatherhood than what’s in dad’s wallet

Dads matter. A lot. But we have a long, long way to go before they're given the respect, acknowledgmente, and support they deserve. (Liviu Demetrescu/Dreamstime/TSN)

Dear Mr. Dad: I think I know how you’re going to answer this question, but my wife and I have been arguing (in a friendly way) about whether moms are naturally better parents than dads. She says yes, but I disagree. What’s your take?

A: For decades, conventional wisdom told us that when it came to child development, mothers were the most important parent. Fathers, apparently, weren’t good for much more than piggybacks, reading an occasional bedtime story, and, of course, discipline. Researchers who studied child development bought into that conventional wisdom and rarely bothered to investigate whether dads might actually play a more important role.

Fortunately, a steady flow of more open-minded, intellectually honest research has discovered (and continues to discover) what fathers and children have always known: Dads play a role in their children’s life that is at least as important as moms’. Dads aren’t merely nice to have around; their presence is actually essential to their children in almost every area of their life: physically, psychologically, socially, developmentally, and even economically.

GOLDSTEIN: Trudeau Liberals see racists behind every tree

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS

It would be helpful if, heading into the Oct. 2019 federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would provide us with a list of things Canadians can criticize his government for, without being accused of racism.

Because the list of things we can’t criticize the Trudeau government for, without being accused of racism by the Liberals, is getting alarmingly long.

For example, you can’t criticize the Trudeau government for saying our annual immigration levels are too high — which a recent Angus Reid Institute poll found half of Canadians surveyed do — without being accused of racism by the Liberals.