John Block Reports from Washington

Hello everybody out there in farm country.  This radio commentary is brought to you by John Deere and the National Corn Growers Association.  They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America.  Thank you.  

And now for today’s commentary—  

We keep reading about foreign countries – especially Russia – hacking into our E-mails, embarrassing the Democratic National Committee.  E-mails have caused concern that Russia will try to influence our election.  Did you realize that this is nothing new?  It is only now that the Justice Department has stepped up to deal with it. 

Russia has, in recent years, looked for ways to slow down the development of our oil and gas industry.  Why?  Because they don’t want more oil and gas.  It drives down the price, and energy is Russia’s primary source of income. 

In recent years, Russia has been funneling money through Russian-controlled companies to U.S. environmental groups.  We all know that the environmental organizations have been trying to stop U.S. oil and gas development.  Remember the Keystone Pipeline?  Stopped!  Remember all the battles over drilling off the coast and drilling on government land?  Environmentalists hate fracking.  The environmental lobby has been tenacious in their battle against oil, gas, and coal.  

How many of us realized that they have been partially funded by Russia?  Now, the press is writing about Russia trying to influence our election, but the press and the Justice Department ignored the Russian effort to slow down or stop U.S. energy development.  They knew about it, but they were sympathetic to the environmental lobby. 

Neither the Justice Department nor the Internal Revenue Service has a very good reputation for being independent and even-handed.  Perhaps we should not be surprised that the public is demanding change.  Donald Trump is advocating change.  So did Senator Bernie Sanders.  It’s hard for Hillary Clinton to do that.  She has been part of the old guard for so many years.  She is tied to the environmental lobby and labor unions.  At this point, we don’t know how this election will come out.  The first Presidential debate is Monday night.  That debate could influence the vote on November 8.  They say as many as 100 million people may be watching.  I’ll watch.  

I’ll be on the farm in Illinois next week.  Corn harvest has started, and I can’t wait to get on that combine. 

  If you would like to review my radio shows going back more than 20 years, just go online to www.johnblockreports.com.  Have a great weekend.    Until next week, I am John Block from Washington, D.C.