January 30, 2018

Seth Meyers - Did Trump Try to Obstruct the Obstruction of Justice Investigation? A Closer Look

Seth takes a closer look at how Trump's administration was rocked by reports that he tried to fire Robert Mueller.

January 29, 2018

U.S. says planned Russian pipeline would threaten European energy security

WARSAW (Reuters) - The United States sees the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany as a threat to Europe’s energy security, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday.

Poland, Ukraine and Baltic states fear the pipeline would increase Europe’s dependence on Russian gas and provide the Kremlin with billions of dollars of additional revenue to finance a further military build-up on European Union’s borders.

“Like Poland, the United States opposes the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. We see it as undermining Europe’s overall energy security and stability,” Tillerson said at a joint news conference with the Polish foreign minister in Warsaw.

“Our opposition is driven by our mutual strategic interests,” he said.

The United States has already sanctioned Russian companies over Moscow’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis, and foreign companies investing in or helping Russian energy exploration.


More: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-nordstream-usa/u-s-says-planned-russian-pipeline-would-threaten-european-energy-security-idUSKBN1FG0CY

January 29, 2018

Manmade quakes force Dutch to face future without gas

ZEERIJP, NETHERLANDS — When Nienke Bastiaans fell in love with and bought a 17th-century thatched house in a rural Dutch village, there was one person who warned about possible earthquakes due to gas extraction.

"Nobody listened to him," she said.

Now, 20 years later, thousands of homes in the northeastern Groningen province are facing reinforcement or even demolition because of hundreds of small tremors caused by decades of gas extraction. The scope of the problem is forcing the Dutch government to confront the prospect of a future without locally produced gas and lucrative gas tax revenue years earlier than previously expected.

Bastiaans and her husband Tom Robinson just had the entire front wall of their home reinforced — paid for by the gas extraction company — and two chimneys replaced because of fears that another tremor could send them crashing through the roof.

The work was completed shortly before a shallow 3.4-magnitude earthquake on Jan. 8 directly under their village jolted the region and rekindled calls for the government to end gas extraction. The quake — the most powerful to hit the region in five years — triggered nearly 3,000 reports of property damage, including a long vertical crack in Zeerijp's historic church tower.

Thousands marched in Groningen on Jan. 19 to protest the gas extraction-caused earthquakes.


Much more: http://www.wral.com/manmade-quakes-force-dutch-to-face-future-without-gas/17295529/


More photos at link:

A crack in the wall of a farm in Hunzinge, northern Netherlands, Friday, Jan. 19, 2018. More than 3,000 homes in Groningen province are facing reinforcement or even in some cases demolition because of a series of small tremors caused by decades of gas extraction and the Dutch government is being forced to confront the possibility of a future without locally produced gas years earlier than expected. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

January 28, 2018

Tanker disaster in East China Sea could be worlds worst oil spill in 35 years

Oil will continue to spread for months, potentially threatening Japan and South Korea.

An oil tanker carrying nearly a million barrels of ultra-light crude oil burned for days in the East China Sea before sinking on Jan. 14, killing all 32 crew members.

Now, the disaster threatens to become the worst oil spill in 35 years, according to a report Friday by Reuters — potentially devastating reefs and fishing grounds and polluting seafood from the region.

The Iranian tanker Sanchi crashed into the South Korean freight boat CF Crystal, which was carrying U.S. grain, on Jan. 6, according to The Washington Post. It burned for days afterward, releasing thick plumes of dark black smoke and frustrating international rescue efforts that included the U.S. Navy.

The ship was carrying 34 million gallons of ultra-light condensate — a form of oil that is extremely toxic, highly flammable, and difficult to detect, according to The Post.

“It’s not like crude, which does break down under natural microbial action,” Simon Boxall, of the the University of Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre, told the BBC. “[T]his stuff actually kills the microbes that break the oil down.”


Much more: https://thinkprogress.org/sanchi-oil-disaster-681fe92acfc6/



RESCUERS SPRAY FOAM TO EXTINGUISH FLAMES ON THE STRICKEN OIL TANKER SANCHI OFF THE COAST OF EAST CHINA'S SHANGHAI, JAN. 12, 2018. CREDIT: XINHUA VIA GETTY IMAGES


Rescuers recount harrowing tale on oil tanker Sanchi



A day before the Iranian oil tanker Sanchi exploded and sank, four Chinese rescuers risked their lives to board the deck amid roaring flames from over a million barrels of condensate on Jan. 13. They recovered two bodies and the ship's black box. CGTN spoke with the rescuers on their mission on Thursday, as they landed safely on the shore in Shanghai. The four rescuers spent a total of 26 minutes on board. It was the first and the last boarding by rescuers. Within 24 hours, the tanker exploded and sank, leaving behind a catastrophic oil spill, heartbreak for the families of the victims, and a story of one of the most courageous acts in the sea of flames.

January 28, 2018

SNL - Weekend Update on End of Government Shutdown

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, including Sen. Chuck Schumer agreeing to a deal to reopen the government. Jacob Silj (Will Ferrell) stops by to address President Donald Trump's comments at the World Economic Forum.



Weekend Update on Baboons Escaping Paris Zoo



Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, including baboons escaping from their enclosure at a Paris zoo. Bailey Gismert (Heidi Gardner) stops by to share her thoughts on this year's Oscar nominees.

January 28, 2018

The Daily Show: The Fox News Guide to Interviewing Trump

Correspondent Desi Lydic demonstrates Fox News's tried and true technique to nailing a Trump interview.

January 27, 2018

France will close all its coal power stations by 2021

France plans to close all of its coal-fired power plants by 2021, a move that doubles down on the country’s relatively aggressive push toward renewable energy.

“We've also decided to make France a model in the fight against climate change,” French president Emmanuel Macron said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Macron said the pledge would be a “huge advantage in terms of attractiveness and competitiveness,” suggesting that the move away from fossil fuels isn’t a zero-sum game.

<snip>

France only gets about 1 percent of its power from coal. But in the U.S., coal remains a much larger part of the power supply mix, accounting for about 16 percent of energy production in 2016. It’s also a more controversial political issue.

In June 2017, President Trump announced the U.S. would drop out of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Months later, in October, the Environmental Protection Agency announced the repeal of the Clean Power Plan, a policy drafted under the Obama administration that would have pushed states away from coal production.


More: http://bigthink.com/news/france-plans-to-close-all-of-its-coal-power-stations-by-2021

January 27, 2018

Stephen Colbert - Monologue and Opening - 1/26/18

Attack Of The Killer Crock-Pots!



Many science fiction authors have predicted uprisings by machines. No one expected crock-pots to be that machine.



Welcome To 2018: We Clone Monkeys Now



Chinese scientists have successfully cloned monkeys. What could possibly go wrong?



Stephen Vs. Miley Cyrus: Who Is The Bigger Elton John Fan?



He was a member of an Elton John cover band in high school. She is performing a duet with Elton John at the GRAMMYs on Sunday. But only one can be Sir Elton John's number-one fan.



Stephen Colbert's Cyborgasm: Home Edition



Artificial intelligence is making its way into your kitchen, your bathroom, and your privacy.



Stephen Works Overtime Because Trump Tried To Fire Mueller



Friday night's episode of the Late Show was signed, sealed, delivered. And then... Trump.

January 27, 2018

Fracking companies wont have to disclose chemicals thanks to Trump administration rollback

California and a coalition of environmental groups have all filed challenges to the Bureau of Land Management's fracking rule repeal.

On the one-year anniversary of becoming California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra (D) did something he had done 25 times in the previous year — he filed an environmental lawsuit against the Trump administration.

The challenge was to the Trump administration’s recent rollback of federal regulations on fracking — a method of oil and gas drilling that requires companies to inject large volumes of chemical and sand-laced water into rock formations below ground in order to expose oil and gas trapped within. The regulations, finalized under the Obama administration, would have required companies that frack on federal lands to, among other things, disclose the chemicals used in their operations.

But the rule was immediately challenged by the oil and gas industry, which called it “politically motivated” and “duplicative.” In his March executive order on energy independence, President Donald Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review and repeal the fracking regulations. That process was finalized in late 2017.

But California — as well as a coalition of six environmental groups, which separately filed a lawsuit challenging the repeal on Wednesday — argue that the Bureau of Land Management and Zinke violated federal law by failing to provide sufficient justification for repealing the rule.

“We seek an order invalidating Bureau of Land Management’s unlawful repeal, which would in turn reinstate the fracking rule,” Becerra said during a press conference on Wednesday. “We take this action…to insist that the rule of law be followed by everyone, including the occupant of the White House.”


More: https://thinkprogress.org/fracking-repeal-consequences-4362a9587bfe/



A LARGE FRACKING OPERATION IN COLORADO. (CREDIT: HELEN H. RICHARDSON/THE DENVER POST VIA GETTY IMAGES)

January 27, 2018

Is the humble sandwich a climate change culprit?

Scientists at the University of Manchester have found a surprising global warming culprit – sandwiches. In the first study of its kind, the researchers carried out an in-depth audit of various sandwiches throughout their life cycles and found the triangular meals could be responsible for the equivalent annual carbon emissions of 8.6 million cars in Britain alone.

In 1762, or so the story goes, the fourth Earl of Sandwich rocked the culinary world when he couldn't be bothered to leave the gambling table to eat and ordered the servants to just stick some meat between two slices of bread for him. Since then, the modern sandwich has become one of the most popular of food formats.

According to the British Sandwich Association (BSA), the United Kingdom spends £8 billion (US$11.3 billion) annually on 11.5 billion sandwiches, with half made at home and the other half bought at shops, supermarkets, kiosks, and service stations. To better understand the environmental impact of all these sarnies, the Manchester team looked at over 40 different sandwich types, recipes, and combinations as well as how they are made, packaged, transported, and stored. In addition, they considered the waste produced in making them, as well as the stale, rotten, or simply outdated sandwiches that are thrown away.

What the researchers found was that not all sandwiches are created equal and that some varieties have larger carbon footprints than others. The highest footprint was found in premade, prepackaged, all-day-breakfast sandwiches. These contain eggs, bacon, and sausage and are kept packaged and refrigerated until sold and eaten – all of which is estimated to add up to 1,441 g (3.18 lb) of carbon dioxide equivalent, or roughly the same as driving a car for 12 miles (19 km).

By contrast, the smallest footprint is that of a homemade ham and cheese sandwich. Overall, making your sandwiches at home potentially halves the carbon emissions compared to their prepackaged equivalents.


More: https://newatlas.com/sandwiches-global-warming/53128/



Sandwiches have a surprisingly large carbon footprint (Credit: Taden1/Depositphotos)