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)

January 27, 2018

Driller at center of Oklahoma well blast has history of deadly accidents

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Patterson-UTI Energy, the contractor at the center of the deadliest U.S. drilling accident since the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in 2010, has the second worst worker fatality rate among its peers, according to federal workplace safety data.

Monday’s disaster, which killed five workers drilling a well in eastern Oklahoma, put a spotlight on safety in the shale industry amid President Donald Trump’s policy of boosting U.S. output of fossil fuels. Last month, the administration proposed scaling back offshore safety regulations imposed after the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 rig workers and caused a massive oil spill.

The cause of the Oklahoma blast, at a well being drilled for Red Mountain Energy by Patterson-UTI, has not yet been determined. The well’s blowout preventer, equipment designed to seal a well in an emergency, was damaged by the explosion and failed to work as intended, authorities have said. Among offshore regulations the Trump administration wants to remove is a requirement for third parties to certify that safety devices work under extreme conditions.

Including Monday’s incident, at least 13 workers have died at Patterson-UTI drilling sites in the past decade, according to a Reuters review of data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), whose functions include investigating workplace accidents.


More: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oklahoma-drilling-patterson-uti/driller-at-center-of-oklahoma-well-blast-has-history-of-deadly-accidents-idUSKBN1FF2KN

January 27, 2018

Trump assigns career civil servants to desk jobs just to spite President Obama

Career State Department officials are being relegated to menial jobs in what is increasingly seen as political retribution for their association with President Obama

Donald Trump is well known for neglecting the diplomatic apparatus of his administration. He has left numerous positions vacant and often undercuts the work of the people he has hired, prompting former Secretaries of State to sound the alarm.

But even more disturbing is how Trump is managing the people he does have, many of whom are still career civil servants who served under President Barack Obama — and who increasingly feel they are being punished for it.

According to a new CNN report, State Department employees are being relegated to desk jobs, and “several officials tell CNN they have retained attorneys after repeatedly trying unsuccessfully to raise concerns about being assigned to low-level jobs in Foggy Bottom such as answering Freedom of Information Act requests.”

The widespread assignment of State Department officials to FOIA duty under Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been going on for months, and has effectively been used as a fishing expedition against Hillary Clinton.

But the new report reveals that many of these officials are high-ranking diplomats with experience in solving global problems, and sheds new light on the suspicious pattern of reassigning officials who served under Obama:


More: https://shareblue.com/trump-assigns-career-civil-servants-to-desk-jobs-just-to-spite-president-obama/

January 27, 2018

Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) - 1/26/18

Monologue: Mueller and Mulligans



Bill weighs in on the news of the week, including Trump's attempt to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.



Roger McNamee: Brain Hacking



Silicon Valley insider and early Facebook investor Roger McNamee joins Bill to discuss how the tech industry is grappling with its growing political influence.



I'm With Hair



Bill takes a look at some of the best signs from the Women's March and some pro-Trump posters the media may have missed.



New Rule: Snide and Prejudice



In his editorial New Rule, Bill asks why President Donald "Least Racist Person" Trump is always picking fights with black people and offers up an alternative outlet for his ire.



Evangelical Poontang, Election Meddling, Demonized Media - Overtime



Bill and his guests – Rick Wilson, Roger McNamee, Rep. Ro Khanna, Michelle Goldberg, and Zooey Deschanel – answer viewer questions after the show.

January 27, 2018

Seth Meyers - Trump in Davos, Deer Basketball - Monologue - 1/25/18

The Tiny Voice in the Back of Donald Trump's Head: "Just Be Quiet"



Seth shows off some new technology that can hear the tiny voice in the back of Donald Trump's head.



Seth's Favorite Jokes of the Week: Trump's Do-Over, Elton John Retires



Seth's favorite jokes from the week of January 22.