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Trump Announces US Withdrawal From Paris Climate Accord (reuters.com)
It's official. President Donald Trump announced today that the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, following through on a pledge he made during the presidential campaign. Trump said the Paris agreement "front loads costs on American people. In order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord but begin negotiations to reenter either the Paris accord or an entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States," the president said. "We are getting out. But we will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that's fair. And if we can, that's great." Trump said that the United States will immediately "cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris accord" and what he said were "draconian financial" and other burdens imposed on the country by the accord.
This means that Elon Musk will leave Trump's Business Advisory Council. On Wednesday, Musk said he did "all he could to advise directly to Trump." (Update: Elon Musk is staying true to his words. Following the announcement, Musk tweeted, "Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.")
Twenty-five companies, including Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, Salesforce, Morgan Stanley, Intel signed on to a letter which was published on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal today arguing in favor of climate pact.
Update: Former president Barack Obama said the U.S. "joins a small handful of nations that reject the future."
Also, the New York Times points out that despite Trump's public statements, the U.S. can't officially leave the Paris climate agreement until 2020.
This means that Elon Musk will leave Trump's Business Advisory Council. On Wednesday, Musk said he did "all he could to advise directly to Trump." (Update: Elon Musk is staying true to his words. Following the announcement, Musk tweeted, "Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.")
Twenty-five companies, including Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, Salesforce, Morgan Stanley, Intel signed on to a letter which was published on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal today arguing in favor of climate pact.
Update: Former president Barack Obama said the U.S. "joins a small handful of nations that reject the future."
Also, the New York Times points out that despite Trump's public statements, the U.S. can't officially leave the Paris climate agreement until 2020.
The agreement dozen cost a single cent. It's only an agreement of good will, with no consequence for polluting countries.
We get to join Nicaragua and Syria in not being part of the Paris Climate Accord. And Nicaragua didn't sign it because they think it doesn't go far enough.
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
Between California regulations, consumer-driven conservation, the increasing market for electric cars, and the price drop in renewable energy, aren't Americans on track to seriously cut CO2 emissions anyway?
Finding God in a Dog
Blue states should get together and promise internationally to try to keep the spirit of the agreement alive in their respective states. While it may not be constitutional to make formal agreements, at least token pledges can be given.
Time to leave the troglodytes in the dust; they will drag us backward if we let them set the agenda. And they are an embarrassment to the USA.
Table-ized A.I.
There's some analysis suggesting that the US being out of any agreements like this will allow the other 194 countries that "believe" in science to be more aggressive on emission targets, and that on net might be a positive result. The US could then get its act together if and when we stop electing Republican idiots, which could happen as early as 2020.
God, to think DT makes GWB look intelligent and wise....
Can't really blame a guy for following through with his campaign promises.
You can blame all the people that voted for him though. When climate change costs your nation money, you ought to sue the US and others for damages. I suspect international courts in 20 years will be really receptive to the idea when willful ignorance played such a big part in the US's choices around climate change denial.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Trump ran on this position.. I'm not surprised he's doing this... Like him or not, you have to admit that he generally tries to do what he promises...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Yeah, fuck the future! Fuck the planet! Fuck humanity! Our industrial corporate overlords need moar profits now! Management level and the politicians sucking up to them can build their bunkers with drugs and hookers to be safe in while the rest of the world goes to shit!
Kind regards,
the GOP, represented by the Donald who just Trumped your ass.
Put up sanctions against us. Seriously. It would be entirely justified and then some. The world puts sanctions on countries for merely looking at certain countries the wrong way, and we're basically attacking all of you, and all your children, and all your children's children.
The areas of the country that realize climate change will be hurt by such sanctions, sure, but we didn't do enough to prevent this. Plus, it'll punish the red states that gleefully thumb their noses at the rest of you more. Deserved.
If you put sanctions on us and refuse to buy shit from us or trade with us, that drives down the amount of carbon we put in the air. It'll hurt us now, but that's better than letting us ruin shit.
Sanctions didn't really stop the spread of communism, despite many decades of trying, but I'm willing to bet that it could be effective in trying to prevent the spread of climate change.
Please, fuck us up economically. It's the only way we'll change and we deserve it now.
He did. T is a virgin birth; the spawn of the orange deity, Cov Fefe.
Table-ized A.I.
Every country that remains a signatory under the Paris Accord, and upholds its respective commitments, has the right to impose unilateral tariffs on the USA to cover the economic and social impacts resulting from the USA's impacts on the climate.
-- In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was UNSIGNED, and the main(){} was without form and void...
Can't really blame a guy for following through with his campaign promises.
Why not? He said "piss off" to his constituents on plenty of other topics, such as Nafta or his hard stance on China. This is simply the willful ignorance of a single man. Individual voters can at least say they voted for him for other reasons and climate change wasn't a litmus test for them, but Trump has no excuse.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
The government being in the Paris agreement or not is totally independent of the U.S. leading in renewable energy development, which will continue to be true.
If for no other reason than Musk...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"Fuck my economy while I watch"
I am beginning to understand why the right has been calling you "cucks".
Trump Will Announce US Withdrawal From Paris Climate Accord
I'm not surprised, It's the one big thing he can do quickly to fulfil a campaign promise and stick it to the 'libruls' where he does not have to deal with congress, the constitution or the judicial system. He can just pull out of the Paris Accord and declare a glorious victory, temporary balm for a bruised ego. Meanwhile China stands by on the sidelines with plans for a $900 billion fund to invest in overseas energy and infrastructure projects and watches approvingly as the US shoots it self in the foot by abandoning any leading role it may have in the development of clean energy tech. Same for Germany which is in the middle of doing the exact opposite of what Trump plans to do and will along with China probably be a world leader in renewable energy tech if by the time Trump is done takign a machete to the US clean energy tech sector. So, folks! It's amateur hour at the White House for the 132nd day in a row!
Let's be honest: the next time a Democrat is president they will probably either join the Paris accords, or adopt policies that align with the accords anyway. This is what American has turned into: our politics are so partisan that pretty much the first thing a new party administration does when they take office is to overrule or counteract policies of the previous administration (except of course for policies that erode away our rights in the name of "national security"). America is running around in circles (and wasting trillions of dollars in the process) while the rest of the world passes us by. And the sad thing is a lot of Americans are cheering as it happens.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Millions? That's at least 2500% growth in coal jobs! Don't you think that's a bit optimistic?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Trump desperately needs to hand the nationalists that put him in the White House a victory. Any victory. This is it.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Do you really think that the Paris climate deal was the major reason that American consumers decided to install rooftop solar or buy electric or hybrid vehicles?
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
And if a President doesn't follow through on his campaign promises? He's still attacked.
I'm glad I'm not President, half the [unreasonable] people would be pissed off one way or another.
But in cases like this, you will piss off half the unreasonable people and 100% of the reasonable people.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
Trump just got Democrats and (some) Republicans to agree about an issue to do with environmentalism: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... It must be freezing in hell.
It's not the first time an unwelcome trump has polluted the air.
The government being in the Paris agreement or not is totally independent of the U.S. leading in renewable energy development, which will continue to be true.
Bingo. Watch Tesla put up a few tens of millions of solar roofs and technological innovation will accomplish that which government treaties could never hope to.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
All Trump is managing to do is alienate our allies. If he is dismantling anything it is America. The rest of the world, which is 96 % of the world's population will go on without us if necessary.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
> Individual voters can at least say they voted for him for other reasons . . .
It should have been clear to individual voters 18 months before the election that this guy was unfit for office. Certainly by 12 months. Or 6 months.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Here's another idea, why not keep our money and spend it on developing natural gas and reducing the cost and danger of nuclear by undoing the regulations that prohibit fuel rod recycling. That would do more for reducing CO2 emissions than throwing our dollars into a U.N. black hole ever will.
You unveil your intense ignorance with each sentence. There are no costs mandated by the Paris Climate Agreement. It was non-binding and had no ramifications if we didn't uphold our end of the bargain. It is hard to not just spout expletives when responding to your comment since it shows such an immense lack of knowledge and the belief your ignorance should be considered in public policy.
No part of the US Climate Action Plan included sending money overseas. It was about investing in industries and technologies so we could reduce our damage to the planet while being leading innovators in the fastest growing energy sector in the world. Stop reading Breitbart and get your head out of your ass.
If any of your proposed solutions could reduce carbon emissions while not damaging the environment even more in other ways, then sure they should be considered. The Paris Climate Agreement didn't stop us from building nuclear plants or developing natural gas.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
The Paris Accord is non-binding. Agreeing to a binding resolution would have required the approval of the Senate, which the Obama administration knew wasn't going to happen with Republicans in control. Meanwhile, the U.S is abandoning coal and using more natural gas, pursuing more electric cars, more wind and solar energy, etc.
Pulling out of the Paris Accord is nothing more than a meaningless gesture to appease the hard-core rightwing factions who are opposed to anything and everything that might actually be good.
Nice link. The author of the article self-admittedly represents oil and gas companies and his sole link to the "devastating" costs of the agreement is a "report" issued by the Heritage Foundation.
Sigh.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
reasonable = people who agree with me
When 100% of the countries invited to be part of the Paris Climate Agreement felt the agreement was either worth signing or didn't go far enough to curb emissions, its safe to say you can objectively say what the reasonable opinion is. There are no other world leaders ignorant enough to do what Trump did, we have the worst one. Even North Korea ratified it.
You are objectively wrong on this one.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
And what is "it really is". Virtually every climatologist states CO2 emissions are increasing surface and ocean temperatures. We're already seeing the direct verifiable signs of that warming, and it will only get worse. Even without US in the Paris agreement, demand for oil is steadily shrinking, so all that really happens now is the US gives up any say on future targets, and will have to rejoin the international community on future agreements with little power save to accede to whatever the EU and China have decided. And for what? For a resource that's value is dwindling, and will never recover? For a decade or two more before oil's value is so low that it's not worth pumping out of the ground? So the Koch Brothers and a few Trump cronies can make a few more bucks, and meanwhile the very people that voted for this halfwit are the ones that get screwed the most?
Oil is dying. Natural gas will follow. Fossil fuels are the past, and good riddance, and the US will regret this for decades to come. But this is how empires die, I suppose, once morons can get to the top of the heap, what's left?
Let's imagine in ten years, when new trade agreements, particularly with large trading blocs, start demanding CO2 reductions as part of any favorable access? Let's try to imagine how much this will cost US manufacturers over the coming decades? Do you think the EU-China climate bloc is just going to let the US off the hook for paying for their towards a carbon-less future? The US will pay, and it will pay dearly, and I hope when the time comes, everyone remembers that it was the sociopaths and morons of the Republican Party, and that payback may come sooner than people think when SCOTUS starts disemboweling gerrymandering and some of these so-called "red states" start turning blue.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
It's worth reiterating to doubters out there, that the biggest problem with climate change is that it's a giant prisoner's dilemma. It's like a large collective weight to carry, and the fewer people agree to help lift it, the harder it is to lift -- and the easier it is to justify doing nothing. This is not a problem that can be solved by a few individuals planting trees or even giving up their car. But if we all put in goodwill and agree to do something, we actually don't individually have to do that much. The incentives will kick in and it will be profitable to keep our standard of living with green energy. But it will never happen unless we are willing to take the first step.
Even if the agreement doesn't go far enough, it's even worse to see that we can't even promise what little it asks. I doubt anything stronger would come around, not until the underlying philosophy of the governing party changes.
You unveil your intense ignorance with each sentence. There are no costs mandated by the Paris Climate Agreement.
Actually, the Paris agreement required developed countries to provide *at least* $100B per year by the year 2020...
Agreement shall set a new collective quantified goal from a floor of USD 100 billion per year , taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries; Recognizes the importance of adequate and predictable financial resources, including for results-based payments, as appropriate, for the implementation of policy
approaches and positive incentives for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks; as well as alternative policy approaches, such as joint mitigation and adaptation approaches for the integral and sustainable management of
forests; while reaffirming the importance of non-carbon benefits associated with such approaches; encouraging the coordination of support from, inter alia, public and private, bilateral and multilateral sources, such as the Green Climate Fund, and alternative sources in accordance with relevant decisions by the Conference of the Parties;
Have you read the agreement?
I suspect international courts in 20 years will be really receptive to the idea when willful ignorance played such a big part in the US's choices around climate change denial.
The notion of listening to "international courts" is a slippery slope. Is some 3rd world country going to sue for one hundred trillion dollars and get it - maybe. Politics can drive such absurdities. However I think much of the US will say come and try and take it.
What happens when the remaining signatories to the climate accord decide to implement a 5% carbon tax on all products imported from countries that are not substantially meeting their obligations under the deal. One man's climate treaty is another mans trading block. I don;t care if we're in or out provided that we're making substantial efforts to clean up our environment, but if we're out then we don't get to say how the block operates.
Nullius in verba
Hopefully, instead, we will implement a tax on ALL CONSUMED GOODS/SERVICES based on what state/nations the worst CO2 comes from. All that needs to happen is that we need OCO3 to have precise (not necessarily accurate; just precise is what is needed) measurements between states/nations, along with normalizing based on emissions / $ GDP. With this, America raises the tax on the emissions/$GDP. This will force all nations to drop their emission over time, or lose their export market. In addition, it will benefit those nations that have low emission / $ GDP.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
This treaty was never a treaty. It was an agreement between Obama and the other countries. If he wanted anything he did to last he should have gone through the Senate as the constitution dictates. I realize there would have been pushback to say the least by the GOP but you don't get to ignore the constitution just because it is inconvenient.
1. Trump alienating our allies is headline news lately.
Give the guy some credit. At least he didn't try to give Angela Merkel a backrub.
Someone had to do it.
Well, yes. But it's non-binding! So clearly the Grand-poster is in favor of just lying to the rest of the world. Keep agreeing to this arrangement until the invoice comes, and then just say no?
Or as part of the ongoing negotiations about how we reach the $100 billion mark, we put forth arguments about other things we are doing which would allow us to not put money towards the $100 billion. Perhaps we invest more than any other country in clean energy technology instead. There are plenty of ways we as a country can show we are serious about climate change without giving money to other countries if that was really the problem.
But in reality this figure is just a scapegoat used by children who want to pretend climate change is not a problem worth trying to fix. Trump just wants to pull out and it grasping at straws to find excuses some people are stupid enough to listen to.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
When you dont know what you are talking about you make up nonsense.
You do know China has signed into this non binding treaty that they will do absolutely nothing until 2030.
You know India will double its coal production under this agreement?
If you believe in the AGW propaganda or don't, the Paris accord is bad for America.
Their bad pollution is why they are starting to take leadership on this. It's that, or riots.
Someone had to do it.
And remember: The leaders of some of those countries have degrees in Science
(unlike King Stupid).
No sig today...
"Two things only the people anxiously desire - Bread and Circuses."
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
Here's hoping...
We know what will happen though, King Stupid will simply slap a double-tax on the rest of the world.
Let him try it, I say. I'd love to see the next generation of Americans working in shoe factories for $1 a day while the rest of the world makes their own machinery.
(America's biggest export right now is machinery).
No sig today...
Nuclear is almost the expensive way to produce power there is. What is this obsession with nuclear? It only makes sense when you're prepared for massive amounts of taxpayer subsidy.
Nuclear is expensive in a large part due to the cost of fuel and waste handling. Both costs can be reduced dramatically by implementing fuel rod recycling like is done in most other countries. Currently we take the "spent" rods (which are still 95% fissible material) and dissolve them in giant acid vats, vitrified, and must be treated as highly radioactive waste for 1000's of years. Instead, we could be recycling them and producing only low-grade non-radioactive waste. We don't because of nonproliferation treaties, not a lack of capability. France uses nuclear as it's primary power source and already recycles its fuel.
This change, combined with safer and more efficient modern reactor designs could make nuclear far cheaper than it is today. Good luck reaching high penetration of wind/solar without a baseload power source. Nuclear seems like a good option given it doesn't directly emit CO2.
http://www.anl.gov/articles/nuclear-fuel-recycling-could-offer-plentiful-energy
Oh fuck off.
LOL sad. Also, not an argument.
massive amounts of taxpayer subsidy
Taxpayer subsidies are bad? Every significant form of renewable energy has been and/or is being supported by all manner of subsidy. Somehow it's only a problem for nuclear/fossil fuels...
And you're badly wrong about the cost of nuclear power. France, for instance, pays less for electricity than every other major European economy because of it's large and well operated nuclear energy system [1]. France also emits far less carbon than its neighbors; have a look at the live map: https://www.electricitymap.org...
[1] http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/s... c/KWh 2016: France: 0.089 Germany: 0.149 UK: 0.128
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Your point is that we should have honored the agreement by ignoring the agreement?
No, but no where in the agreement does it show which countries pay the $100 billion. If the US really didn't want to fulfill its obligations it could make other guesters, such as spending $100 billion ourselves in clean energy per year. Still kind of shitty that we wouldn't directly help developing nations not pollute as much as we did when we were growing, but at least we could say we are doing something.
By pulling out we are simply saying we don't care at all.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
It should have been clear to individual voters 18 months before the election that this guy was unfit for office. Certainly by 12 months. Or 6 months.
Everyone on the ballot was unfit for office.
Don't get to comfortable. According to the Constitution, you're #637 in the order of presidential succession. You may yet find yourself in the Oval Office.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Nuclear power isn't the most dangerous one - fossil fuels are. Burning fossil fuels releases more radioactive elements into the atmosphere (and locally into the ground) than nuclear power and also releases a lot of other nasty things _proven_ to be hazardous to health. A modern nuclear reactor is pretty damn safe and the Fukushima mess* actually proves that - the complex suffered a tripple(!) meltdown with relatively little radioactive leakage most of which were due to hydrogen-oxygen explosions that destroyed containment features. Even the Chernobyl radioactive release were actually mostly due to the graphite moderator being on fire rather than actually suffering a meltdown without having any modern protective features (filter system, containment design).
Statistical analysis of nuclear vs fossil fuel deaths are showing clearly that the later is much more dangerous.
(* it was more than accident and more than one mistake combined -> a bloody mess)
that's what we're worried about. Yes, it has no force of law or actual requirements. It's a feel good treaty all around. That's what makes pulling out so bad. There's only one reason to pull out, and it's to say: Fuck You World. By pulling out we send a message that we're not willing to even consider working with the rest of the world.
CNN has an article describing how this could lead to a trade war. TLDR: Frustrated nations slap carbon taxes on imported goods because they're building with clean energy while we shamelessly pollute (which is much cheaper) and then Trump responds with his own tarriffs. Then it escalates from there and badda bing badda boom, recession/depression.
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Oh fuck off. Nuclear is almost the expensive way to produce power there is. What is this obsession with nuclear? It only makes sense when you're prepared for massive amounts of taxpayer subsidy.
THings have gone badly wrong with the managing of the nuclear industry. It's the safest form of power measured in deaths per TWh, but we're stuck with ageing 1970s tech, and building brand new 1970s tech. The mismanagement caused by misplaced fear means we're running the equivalent of nuclear Pintos in 2017.
Safety and density have a lot going for it. It doesn't matter as much for a country like the USA, but for smaller, denser countries, it's the only way to gain energy independence to any degree. Once you get to a country like the UK, renewables aren't going to cut it.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Don't get to comfortable. According to the Constitution, you're #637 in the order of presidential succession. You may yet find yourself in the Oval Office.
I wish I could commit some felonies in order to keep myself out of the Oval Office, but that strategy appears to no longer work.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Not only is everyone else going to remain in your supposedly "bad deal" but China in particular is soon going to use it to turn the screws on the US. You fail to see the big picture here, that the "deal" isn't just about future emissions targets, it's about who gets to call the shots going forward, and the EU-China climate pact represents the largest trading and population group on the planet.
This idea that some people, like you, apparently have that Paris will fall part because the US backs out is not only just wrong, but utterly delusional. China, and likely now that Trump has gone out of his way to show his contempt for Europe, the EU as well, are going to use Paris and successor agreements to pummel the US.
And then you still have to factor in the ever-mounting costs to the US having to actual deal with the physical effects of AGW. Oil isn't dying fast enough to keep emissions, and consequently temperature increases, from royally fucking things over, so if China, the EU and everyone else that signs aboard has to pay a large proportion of the bill, then they are going to use the overwhelming economic clout of this new pact to make the US pay in every other conceivable way.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
The funniest thing of all is that the Paris agreement was 100% voluntary. Each individual nation could set whatever parameters for reduction it wanted including no reduction at all. He could have just changed the numbers and marched on and no one could do anything about it.
The funny this is it takes 3 years to withdraw plus a one year wait after the 3, when he loses in 2020 the new president will be able to halt the process. Hell when the Democrats take back Congress in 2018 they will be able to halt his action. If he's just stayed in and revised the numbers no one could have stopped him and it would have been immediate.
Trump is the new King Canute. He believes his words can command nature itself.
this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal
- Barack Obama
Dark Reflection
Sometimes I wonder whether some of Trump's actions are doing things that are what he believes are good for the country or whether he has just has a hard-on for destroying anything Obama enacted?
I can almost imagine Trump in a mental asylum scrawling 'I hate you Obama' on the walls, like a crazy man.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
All centers of power decline over time and replacements fill the void.
America has voted to be isolationist, anti-globalist, anti-science, pro-white supremacist, Islamophobic, batshit crazy Evangelical Christian, anti-immigration, anti-refugee and anti-business.
Blaming Trump is vacuous. We the People have spoken and it is what it is.
HRC had too much baggage; was Obama 2.0, and ignored the undereducated poor white trash voters.
As America continues to peg the meter to the right, she'll get what she deserves.
Power will now shift to China and India.
God rest (in peace) America.
It was a great ride.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
What leaving DOES do is give up the opportunity for the U.S. to have a leadership role, or any role, in international discussions on climate change. The rest of the world will move on, without us. That means uncountable opportunities missed, picked up by, I don't know, China?
This is the same reason scrapping the Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement was stupid. You don't like it, you change it. You don't just walk away, because if you do, some other power will gladly take over. Like China.
Giving up American power and influence around the world, with 1,251 days to go.
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
G. W. still worse. Way higher body count. Don't use rose colored glasses. I think Trump will surpass Bush if he lasts much longer.
Play Command HQ online
The whole thing is just for show. He wants to stir up some noise and stick it (symbolically) to the establishment and the environmentalists.
Play Command HQ online
What is this nonsense? Who called it a treaty? Where are you getting this from?
Do you even know what a treaty is? Do you know what an agreement is? Do you know what the constitution actually requires? It doesn't say: "The President is congress' little bitch and has to get approval before he says anything to anyone." Under the present circumstances that may be an unfortunate truth, but it is a truth.
I want my country to be a rational, creative, compassionate leader within the community of nations. Failing that, I want my nation's policies to promote our own long-term growth and success without stepping on the rights of other people. Failing that, which is apparently where we are today, I want the community of nations to pressure my nation into pretending to value those principles.
Do what you can to go green in spite of Trump.
Conserve by replacing failed equipment with energy efficient versions
If you have a good roof for solar, get solar, either by paying cash or getting a loan. Don't lease.
When it's time to replace a car, and if you have a place to charge it from natural gas- or renewably-generated electricity, get an EV or Plugin Hybrid. If you don't have a place to charge it and don't expect to have one in the near future, get a non-plugin hybrid.
Support green efforts in your town/city/state.
Yes, you will need to spend a little money today, but it'll be better than the billion-pound cure we'll need to buy in the future. (Or even the $hundreds of billions we're losing in pollution related health costs each year.)
Context matters, dipshit.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
The whole planet was set to benefit, just like when we all banned CFCs which fixed the hole in the ozone layer.
Climate change is real, we have damaged the ozone layer and suffered for it. That's fixed now because of agreements like this.
You make a lot of assertions without any citations.
The "left" was big on population reduction 40 years ago. You know how Europe collectively did that reduction? Mainly by leftist policies like access to birth control and sex education.
Where is the "right" on this? Yeah, shutting down planned parenthood centers and praising anti-abortion terrorists.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
And it's beyond stupid, he took America away from the negotiating table. For a claimed deal maker not sitting at the table is about the stupidest deal you can make! Without the US at the table the rest of the world could decide to impose carbon tariffs on the US exports. You gain absolutely NOTHING by not participating, you can only lose.
To be fair to the late Mr Canute, he took his throne and advisors to the sea to show that even he, a King, could not stop the sea by command.
He was iterating the point to his advisors that mortal power had a limit.
New Zealanders are well balanced with a chip on each shoulder. One represents Australia, the other the rest of the world
Trump is just a narcissistic con-man who thinks he's a great deal-maker. He hasn't closed one single deal since he took office because running a country and managing foreign policy isn't like greasing a local zoning board so you can build a golf course. He's completely incompetent as a leader.
"I went to an Ivy League school. I’m very highly educated. I know words, I have the best words."
"The Wharton School of Finance is probably the hardest there is to get into. Some of the great business minds in the world have gone to Wharton."
"The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."
- Donald Trump
Also remember that aid is not some blackhole than money disappears into.
China will say to any number of nations: "Here, have some climate impact mitigation aid money, but you must buy Chinese equipment/services with it.".
The money soon flows back to Chinese companies (after being skimmed for kickbacks and some local handling). These Chinese companies use the money to ramp up production, gaining economies of scale through what in effect is government based support that neatly does an end run around WTO state aid rules. Now, not only has the USA been locked out of these initial deals, it's locked out of the long term contracts (services, maintenance, upgrades), has lost vital mindshare in these new markets and has potentially allowed Chinese companies to undercut US prices because they've had a big whack of state aid.
Sure, you've made some coal miners temporarily happy and sold a few more #MAGA hats, but you've potentially buggered up some juicy long term markets in which America could have competed.
And that's the best case scenario, because if the agreement parties decide that more urgent action is needed, a carbon tariff on non-signatories could really cause headaches for American companies.
Given the Trump administration seems to be getting a kick out of giving the rest of the world the middle finger, I can imagine the rest of the world won't have too many qualms about sticking it to the USA in return.
Also, and correct me if I'm wrong here, the US has a 2/3 import/export ratio with the EU. A tariff war would disproportionately affect the EU. In fact, other than food products and overvalued pop media, I'm not sure what exactly we have to slap tariffs on.
I hate to burst your bubble, but Democrats aren't going to take back Congress in 2018. Hell, Trump will probably be re-elected in 2020. And I am most emphatically not saying that because that's what I want. I hate Trump and the Republican party with a purple passion you cannot measure.
But the sad fact is that collectively, American voters are dumb as dirt. I mean, we're really, really stupid. Sure, there are a lot of good, smart people out there, but not nearly as many as idiots. I used to be hopeful and optimistic, but the 2016 election irrevocably changed that. We had a man running who literally said that he could get away with anything, including sexual assault, and who was a cultural icon of the greed and excess of our most decadent decade of greed and excess. People lined up in droves to vote for him.
And on the left? We still have a contingent of people, our own version of the Tea Party, who insist that Hillary Clinton is "just as bad," embracing weird conspiracy theories posited by the crazy branch of the right-wing, such as her "rigging" the primaries or deleting thousands of incriminating emails, things there has never been any evidence of her doing.
Some people (including Clinton herself) chalk all of these woes up to misogyny or Russian interference. Yeah, that had some impact. But personally, I chalk it up to a more basic truth: We Americans are collectively as stupid as they come. While most of the world praises intelligence and experience, we have an active disdain for it. When someone excels at something, we look for ways to take them down a peg because they're "elitist." Instead, we bow to the cult of Trump, where you don't have to be smart, motivated, and have a proven track record of getting worthwhile things done. You just have to have a larger-than-life personality and willing to say literally anything, even if it contradicts something you said two minutes ago. We'd prefer electing someone who's openly lying to our face because the person who's telling the truth must be hiding something nefarious.
I know, you're probably thinking that now that Trump has steered our boat straight down shit creek, people are finally waking up. I'll remind you that just a week ago, the people of Montana elected a man who literally physically and deliberately harmed another person because he was "sick and tired" of being asked questions about health care, the most important domestic issue facing America today. We pay lip service to teaching our kids to play nice, share, and be good people, but then we turn right around and reward people like Gianforte with being elected to what used to be an esteemed office. Which lesson do you think they're learning?
And before that, when Democrats lost a mayoral election in Omaha, Nebraska, the Sandersesque contingent came out of the woodwork yet again to point fingers at the national Democratic party for somehow failing to win the seat, even though that election was much closer than the one four years ago. And why? Because the DNC leadership criticized the Democratic candidate for being anti-abortion. Gasp! Democrats had the audacity to vocally support women's rights? No wonder they lost!
I always get amused at people who want term limits for Congresspeople, or who say things like, "Throw them all out!" What exactly makes you think that anything would be any different? I mean, the idiots in Kentucky who keep electing Mitch McConnell, the man who plainly stated that his number one political goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president (and, incidentally, who spectacularly failed at even that number one goal) would just find some other jackass to line up behind in the following election. Maybe even someone worse.
So yeah, I'd like to think that Democrats are going to make a resurgence in 2018. I'd like to think that 2020 will see a wave of blue overtake the country and finally sweep out the assholes and villains of the right-wing that have been holding this country back for decades. I can't help but roll my e
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.
Western countries can claim greener and cleaner economy because they moved the dirty business in these countries. Trump wants them back in USA. That's why he withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord. These dirty businesses provide job for the less educated in the country.
Achille Talon
Hop!
Not only do we still have a fully functional EPA,
What? Who told you that, and why are you repeating it? Are you getting paid, or do you just want to seem cool? The EPA has been effectively shut down. It wasn't worth much before, now it's worth even less.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"