Political Climate: Addressing the climate summit in Paris President Obama said time is running out to do something about climate change. He warned of “Submerged countries.  Abandoned cities.  Fields that no longer grow.  Political disruptions that trigger new conflict, and even more floods of desperate peoples seeking the sanctuary of nations not their own.”

He spoke on the same day Beijing was suffering its worst air pollution of the year, a brown fog blanketing the city.

Obama’s remarks were probably better received by a convention of national leaders in Paris than they were back in Washington, where House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy says the House will not vote in favor of spending money to support a climate accord reached in Paris. He said, “I don’t think that’s the best use of our money.”

Each of the roughly 150 countries attending was expected to arrive with a national plan for curbing greenhouse gases. The leaders of France, Germany, Chile, Mexico, Ethiopia and Canada all called for ways to put a price on carbon dioxide emitted by industry. It could be a simple tax or a more complex carbon credit trading system, they said.

Possibly in a jab at climate change deniers at home, Obama said, “One of the enemies that we’ll be fighting at this conference is cynicism, the notion we can’t do anything about climate change.

The Whiskey Ring: Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who for 20 years was one of the most powerful figures in New York politics, was convicted of corruption yesterday in Federal court in Manhattan. Silver had been accused of taking $4 million in illegal payments and was convicted of fraud, extortion, and money laundering.

It’s a big win for US Attorney Preet Bharara who’s trying to crack Albany’s culture of corruption. In one of those statements intended to be quotable, Bharara said, “Today, Sheldon Silver got justice, and at long last, so did the people of New York.”

Bharara aims high. He’s also got former NY Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos under indictment.

Money, Money: In a move that recognizes China as the global economic power it has become, The International Monetary Fund is recognizing the renminbi as one of the world’s elite. The designation means the IMF thinks the renminbi is safe and reliable for international trade and finance. That puts Chinese money in with the power currencies; the dollar, the pound, the euro, and the yen.

Man and Machine: Indonesian investigators say the crash of an Air Asia jet in the Java Sea last year was caused by a combination of a technical flaw and pilot response. The plane’s flight control computer was malfunctioning and the pilot put the plane into a long stall, losing lift and crashing.

Hindsight: Former US special forces chief Mike Flynn, who also served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the German publication Der Spiegel that invading Iraq “was a huge error.” Flynn said. “As brutal as Saddam Hussein was, it was a mistake to just eliminate him. The same is true for Muammar Qaddafi and for Libya, which is now a failed state. The historic lesson is that it was a strategic failure to go into Iraq. History will not be and should not be kind with that decision.”

Shawshank: The Maine State Prison Showroom in Thomaston sells the arts, crafts, and handiwork of prison inmates. The showroom’s website says, “The industries program provides inmates with a means of learning valuable marketable job skills, work ethics and responsibility – all necessary tools for the transition into the workforce upon release.”

Either somebody didn’t get the message, or they haven’t been to prison yet for re-education. The Prison Showroom was burglarized overnight Sunday and thousands of dollars in cash was taken.

-30-