You would think a president who needs the votes of a senator from Maine to confirm his nominees would give it a minute before imposing tariffs on Canada, its primary trading partner

But you would be wrong.

 

Incompetence from sea to shining sea: Trump releases water needed for summer agricultural irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley to fight fires but that water will simply evaporate in Tulare Lake

 

Acting on Trump’s order, federal officials opened up two California dams

... The two reservoirs are used to hold supplies for agricultural irrigation districts. Nemeth noted that winter is not the irrigation season for farms, which require more supplies to grow crops in the summer months, “so there isn’t a demand” for the water in the San Joaquin Valley at this time. ...

Peter Gleick, a water scientist and senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, said dam managers would typically only release large quantities of water in the winter when major storms create a need to make space for large inflows of runoff. But Southern California has been very dry and the snowpack in the southern Sierra remains far below average, so “there is no indication that that’s why these releases occurred.”

“In addition, when those kinds of releases do occur, they’re always done in consultation with local and state agencies,” Gleick said.

“I don’t know where this water is going, but this is the wrong time of year to be releasing water from these reservoirs. It’s vitally important that we fill our reservoirs in the rainy season so water is available for farms and cities later in the summer,” Gleick said. “I think it’s very strange and it’s disturbing that, after decades of careful local, state and federal coordination, some federal agencies are starting to unilaterally manipulate California’s water supply.”

Vink agreed, saying that given how dry it has been in the region this winter, there was no need to make such a release. In fact, he said, farmers were counting on that water to be available for summer irrigation.

“This is going to hurt farmers,” Vink said. “This takes water out of their summer irrigation portfolio.” ...

 

It's great to be a Trumpist

 Trump Media gifts DJT shares to FBI pick Kash Patel, Linda McMahon and president’s son

Trump Media this week gifted thousands of shares of company stock to President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, to Trump’s eldest son and to four other board members, new regulatory filings show.

The company awarded 25,946 stock shares each to Patel, Donald Trump Jr., and the president’s pick for Education secretary, Linda McMahon, who all serve as Trump Media directors, the filings Thursday reveal.

Three other directors — former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, Eric Swider and Kyle Green — received the same number of DJT shares at no cost, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The filings said the awards were granted Tuesday. Trump Media that day closed trading at $30.04 per share.

At that price, the shares have a paper value of more than $779,400. But most of the stock awarded has restrictions on when it can be sold. ...