California

An official University of California report has concluded that there is a link between oil drilling and earthquakes.  The 2005 spate of earthquakes in California’s Central Valley was triggered by oilfield injection underground, researchers say Yahoo News reports: The research links a local surge in oil company injection of wastewater underground, peaking in 2005, with an unusual jump in seismic activity in and around the Tejon Oilfield in southern Kern County. In Oklahoma and some other Midwestern states, the U.S.

Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Just what we need, cornfield crucifixions.

Seriously though, this is very troubling. The Saudis are explicitly conserving their own resources at home, while exploiting land and water supplies here in America.

CNBC reports:

Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries are scooping up farmland in drought-afflicted regions of the U.S. Southwest, and that has some people in California and Arizona seeing red.

 

Authored by Melissa Cronin, originally posted at MotherBoard,

A ‘drafting error’ in California’s revision to its medicinal marijuana law could leave established growers like the “Sisters of the Valley” without a crop and out of business. Sister Kate and Sister Darcey from Merced in California have been producing salves and tonics made with cannabis. According to their website sistersofcbd.com, the sisters are not members of a religious order but they say they are on a spiritual quest to heal the sick with their medicinal cannabis cures. They have produced a variety of products made from the cannabinoids or CBD’s found in the marijuana.

Elections, elections, and more elections is the 'change' meme for 2016 but, as Bloomberg details, the key events of the year ahead vary from a California marijuana referendum to Brazil's Olympics, and from Davos to SCOTUS. No matter what, 2016 holds a lot of opportunity for volatility, and without The Fed's safety net, who knows what that means for markets...

Here's a selected calendar of key events for the year.