Chicken Little: President Trump hedged on the Paris Climate Accord, announcing that he will withdraw the US from the agreement while sticking to the four-year exit process. That makes withdrawal an issue for the 2020 election.

Trump said, “Foreign leaders in Europe, Asia, and across the world should not have more to say with respect to the US economy than our own citizens and their elected representatives.  Thus, our withdrawal from the agreement represents a reassertion of America’s sovereignty.”

Contrary to what the president said, both entry into the Paris Accord and compliance are voluntary, not a surrender of sovereignty.

Trump’s decision is a thumb in the world’s eye, a rebuke to national, corporate, environmental leaders, and even some members of his own staff who believe all countries must join to fight carbon emissions and climate change. Withdrawal puts the US in the dummy corner with Syria and Nicaragua.

In protest, landmark buildings around the world were lit up in green last night.

Trump has bought the conservative line that controlling carbon emissions damages the economy, while ignoring the jobs to be had and money to be made in creating new energy sources. While the President has denounced climate change as a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese, his decision puts China in the lead to finding solutions.

Former President Obama issued a statement saying, “But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I’m confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got.”

Patriotism: In a statement that’s the closest he’s come to admitting Russian influence on the US election, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that “patriotically minded” private hackers may have tried to sway the election. Denying any state involvement, Putin told reporters that hackers “are like artists” who choose their targets depending how they feel “when they wake up in the morning.”

Robbery Homicide: Thirty-six people died yesterday in a robbery assault on the Philippines’ largest casino. The bodies were found hours after police said only the lone attacker had died.

The single gunman carried gasoline and set fires all over the hotel, setting off a panic. In his speech yesterday on the Paris Accord, President Trump described the incident as a terrorist attack, which it was not.

Cash Crunch: The federal government is running low on cash because rich Americans and companies are delaying tax payments in hopes that Congress will pass a big tax cut, according to a story in The Washington Post. The shortfall is speeding the government toward hitting the debt ceiling, and forcing the Republican-controlled Congress to raise it. They hate that. At the same time, the chances of dramatic tax cuts and reform any time soon are looking troubled.

Ice, Ice, Baby: An iceberg the size of Delaware is close to breaking off the Antarctic ice shelf, scientists say. A giant crack is within eight miles of the ocean, convincing scientist that the berg is likely to break off this summer.

It’s been described as 300,000 times the size of the iceberg that sank the Titanic, but we prefer our measurements of large objects in football fields.

The Obit Page: Roberto De Vicenzo, the great Argentine golfer who missed a shot at winning the Master’s Tournament because he signed an erroneous scorecard, has died at age 94.

In 1968, De Vicenzo had finished four rounds tied at 277 with Bob Goalby. They were headed to a playoff, but De Vicenzo’s playing partner, Tommy Aaron, had marked De Vicenzo’s birdie-3 on the 17th hole as a 4. De Vicenzo signed the card without noticing, and that cost him the tournament by a stroke he never took.

Flight: Microsoft millionaire Paul Allen has rolled out his twin-fuselage developmental aircraft Stratolaunch, the largest plane in the world with six engines and a wingspan of 385 feet. It’s bigger than Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose. It’s longer than a football field. See? Isn’t that clear? Allen’s plane looks like two airplanes joined by a wing in the middle.

The design is not for passengers but for launching satellite-bearing missiles into space at a reduced cost. The plane would launch the missiles into space from about 35,000 feet. That’s 116 football fields.