Carbon Neutral by 2050, Trump in the Shower
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Vol. 4, No. 347
Political Climate: World leaders celebrated yesterday after the release of an agreement that commits nearly every country on earth to lowering carbon emissions.
One of the primary goals is — sometime between 2050 and 2100 — to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the levels that trees, soil, and oceans can absorb naturally.
President Obama said, “This agreement sends a powerful signal that the world is fully committed to a low-carbon future. We’ve shown that the world has both the will and the ability to take on this challenge.” But despite the rosy reception, the agreement is considered to be only about half what is necessary to stave off a disastrous future of irreversible climate change.
One of the tests of success will be whether the world financial markets see alternate energies as the investment of the future. Right now markets are diving with the dropping price of oil, revealing that the money people think carbon fuels are both the world’s present and future.
But another test will be in the Republican Congress. Oklahoma’s Republican Sen. James Inhofe, the climate-change denying chair of the environmental committee said, “Senate leadership has already been outspoken in its positions that the United States is not legally bound to any agreement setting emissions targets or any financial commitment to it without approval by Congress.”
Homeland: FBI divers have recovered objects from a lake in San Bernardino, Calif., after three days of searching for evidence in the terrorist attack on a California state office building. The FBI has not revealed what they’ve found.
US Immigration was less successful in finding evidence that was more obvious. When ICE allowed Pakistani born Tashfeen Malik into the country with her new American husband, they failed to notice her militant Islamic postings on Facebook.
The Endorsement Race: As a counterpoint to the popularity polls, Nate Silver’s 538 Blog tracks endorsements, which can be one of the best predictors of political success. Republican Jeb Bush, who’s running 5th in Republican polls, is number one in influential political endorsements followed by Marco Rubio and Christ Christie.
538 says that, “During the period known as the ‘invisible primary,’ these ‘party elites’ seek to coalesce around the candidates they find most acceptable as their party’s nominee. Over the past few decades, when these elites have reached a consensus on the best candidate, rank-and-file voters have usually followed.”
Whether this remains true in the case of the party’s leader Donald Trump will be a test of political wisdom and history. Trump has defied both so far.
The Obituary Page: Marjorie Lord, the beautiful redheaded actress who played the second wife on “The Danny Thomas Show” in the 1950s and 60s, died in late November at the age of 97. The show that debuted as “Make Room for Daddy” on ABC moved to CBS under the new name.
She was the mother of the actress Anne Archer.
Lord found herself forever after typecast as the pleasant and lovely wife. She told an interviewer, “I tell my agents, find me a nice, good prostitute part — else I’ll be married the rest of my career life.” Hollywood wasn’t so daring in those days.
Touchdown: Alabama’s running back Derrick Henry has been awarded college football’s Heisman Trophy. Henry gained 1,986 yards on 339 carries this year.
Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful: Republican candidate Donald Trump said at a rally in South Carolina that he has trouble washing his hair some places he goes because of environmental restrictions on water flow. And now we are all stuck with the image in our heads of Donald Trump in the shower washing his hair.
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