July 11, 2017

Stephen Colbert: Mr. President Wasn't Mr. Popular At The G20 Summit - 7/10/2017

July 11, 2017

The Daily Show: Donald Trump Jr. Reminds Everyone How Incompetent His Dad's Administration Is

July 4, 2017

Norway to ban the use of oil for heating buildings by 2020

'Those using fossil oil for heating must find other options by 2020,' says country's Environment Minister

Norway is set to become the first country in the entire world to ban the use of gas to heat buildings.

The Scandinavian country, which is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside the Middle East, will wholly stop the use of both oil and paraffin to warm buildings from 2020 onwards.

The country, which hopes to ban the sale of all fossil fuel-based cars by 2025, has made a concerted effort to introduce policies which shrink domestic emission of greenhouse gases.

Vidar Helgesenlaid, the nation’s Environment Minister, laid out the plans in a statement, saying: “Those using fossil oil for heating must find other options by 2020.”


More: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/norway-ban-oil-use-heating-2020-a7819571.html



The new measure could pave way for other countries to follow suit as the building sector is a massive carbon dioxide mission emitter

July 4, 2017

Major Clean Coal Project in Mississippi Shuts Down

Billions over budget and three years behind, the Kemper County coal gasification project will now produce electricity using natural gas

Kemper County Power Generation Facility, the flagship “clean coal” project in rural eastern Mississippi, will rely on natural gas rather than coal to produce electricity, reports Henry Fountain at The New York Times.

The plant, owned by Southern Company, was intended to demonstrate technology that would clean up even the dirtiest of coals. As Fountain writes, "[t]he lignite coal that is mined adjacent to the Kemper County plant emits more climate-warming carbon dioxide per unit of heat than other coal, and far more than natural gas."

However, as of this month, the project is three years behind schedule and has spent more than $4 billion over its initial budget of $2.9 billion, Jeff Amy reports for the Associated Press. In 2015, the Mississippi Public Service Commission, which regulates public utilities in the state, allowed the company to raise rates by 15 percent to try to recoup $840 million spent on equipment costs.

Last week the worsening situation prompted the Public Service Commission to take action. Not wanting to pass the skyrocketing price tag over to consumers, the Commission is requiring Mississippi Power to begin negotiations to settle the plant's outstanding costs. The Commission also noted that the plant will run only on natural gas going forward.


More: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/major-clean-coal-project-mississippi-shut-down-180963898/



Kemper County coal gasification plant

July 3, 2017

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - S04E18 (HBO) - July 2, 2017

July 3, 2017

To Comprehend Trump, Read This

Three books and two magazine articles shed a lot of light on the president's baffling behavior.

It's happening more and more: The phone rings and there's an old acquaintance on the line, often a mainstream Republican, asking, "What's wrong with Donald Trump?"

Instead of ranting in response, as I’d been doing for months, I'm now offering up a reading list. Here it is:

"Citizen Cohn," Nicholas Von Hoffman's biography of Roy Cohn.

"Don't Mess With Roy Cohn," a brilliant Ken Auletta piece in Esquire magazine written almost four decades ago.

"TrumpNation," an investigative biography by my Bloomberg View colleague Timothy L. O'Brien.

"The Art of the Deal," Trump's first book.

Jane Mayer's New Yorker article last year about the remorse felt today by Trump's ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz.

Cohn, the counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the anti-Communist witch hunts of the early 1950s, was Trump's mentor until his death in 1986. After McCarthy fell from power, Cohn became a New York power broker, introducing Trump to politicians and helping him cut deals. Cohn was a shrewd, ruthless bully whose philosophy, Auletta wrote, amounted to this: "Everyone lies, smears, covers up, protects their friends. The rules of the game don't count as much as winning."

Sound familiar?

(Cohn was a liar to the end, dying of AIDS while publicly denying that he was gay.)

Trump adopted his role model's attack-first-and-never-apologize tactics, on contemptible display last week with his vile slur against television anchor Mika Brzezinski. It's easy to envision the embittered president raging late into the night about dishonorable enemies and feeble defenders, asking himself what Roy would do.

Much more: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-02/to-comprehend-trump-read-this