© USDA
The declaration - which covers roughly half of the country - gives farmers and ranchers devastated by drought access to federal aid, including low-interest emergency loans.
"Agriculture remains a bright spot in our nation's economy," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday while announcing the assistance program. "We need to be cognizant of the fact that drought and weather conditions have severely impacted farmers around the country."
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, more than half the country (56 percent) experienced drought conditions - the largest percentage in the 12-year history of the service. And according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the period from January through June was "the warmest first half of any year on record for the contiguous United States."
The average temperature was 52.9 degrees Fahrenheit, or 4.5 degrees above average, NOAA said on Monday. Twenty-eight states east of the Rockies set temperature records for the six-month period.
A heat wave blistered most of the United States in June, with more than 170 all-time temperature records broken or tied during the month. On June 28 in Norton, Kan., for instance, the temperature reached 118 degrees, an all-time high. On June 26, Red Willow, Neb., set a temperature record of 115 degrees, eclipsing the 114-degree mark set in 1932.
Doesn't that make this a man-made disaster?
I'd like to turn the tables on the Cabal by insisting that, according to their own publicity, this is man-made disaster. Then use that as the basis to launch an investigation into the human causes for this "surprise" heat wave.
Even if the investigation failed to pin this thing on HAARP, chemtrails, or river channelization, I think treating it as an out-ethics situation and not just a "natural disaster" would generate some interesting public discussion.
Something like this has happened before in our history (dust bowl) so why weren't we better prepared? Who failed in their responsibility to protect the health and safety of the people of the United States?