March 9, 2017

Eight Fossil Fuel Majors Seen Polluting as Much as the U.S.

Eight of the world’s largest oil companies are responsible for as much of the climate-damaging pollution spewed into the atmosphere as the entire U.S., according to a study by a London-based researcher.

Saudi Aramco, Exxon Mobil Corp., OAO Gazprom, the National Iranian Oil Co., BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc were among the eight companies whose fuel was responsible for a third of emissions from oil and gas, according to the non-profit group CDP. The companies released a fifth of all greenhouse gases outside of farming and forestry since 1988, the year most governments acknowledged man-made climate change as a risk.

The findings suggest policymakers may be better off focusing on the practices of companies instead of national environmental policies. The study’s release coincides with preparations by U.S. President Donald Trump to slash environmental regulations and possibly withdraw from the landmark Paris Agreement, which promises to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels.

“One way to really drive forward climate action is to look at the key producers of fossil fuels who are causing the globe to warm, this is what the new CDP data brings to life,” said Paul Simpson, chief executive officer of CDP, which surveys companies and collects data on sustainability issues.





More: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-08/eight-fossil-fuel-majors-seen-polluting-as-much-as-the-u-s

March 8, 2017

Trump praises Exxon and himself for 2013 plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is again citing corporate investments planned before he took office as evidence that his policies are growing jobs and business.

"We are already winning again, America!" he tweeted Monday after Exxon Mobil announced the latest details of an expansion initiative that actually began in 2013. "Buy American & hire American are the principals at the core of my agenda, which is: JOBS, JOBS, JOBS," he said in another tweet thanking Exxon Mobil for the announcement.

It's the latest in a string of corporate announcements about jobs and investments that date back to plans companies largely made when Barack Obama was president.

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Trump has credited his policies for a variety of corporate announcements — by Ford, Fiat-Chrysler, General Motors, Sprint, Intel and more — that reflect decisions made before his presidency.


More: http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2017/03/oil-and-gas-trump-praises-exxon-and-himself-for-2013-plan.html

March 7, 2017

He may not even understand Watergate: Former Nixon lawyer schools Trumps Obama-wiretap claim

Former White House Counsel for United States President Richard Nixon John Dean knows a thing or two about Watergate and he wants President Donald Trump to learn the facts. In fact-free accusations Saturday morning on Twitter, Trump alleged a new Watergate at the hands of former President Barack Obama, whom Trump said wiretapped him.

Dean called Trump’s claim this is another Watergate “way off base.”

“It shows, first of all, that Trump may not even understand Watergate,” Dean continued. “He seems to be conflicting the act of the wiretapping, which never happened — in fact, it was a bungled effort, they went in to try to repair a bungled bug, and Nixon had nothing to do with that, he’s confusing that with the cover-up, which he seems to have a little more understandings projecting himself into that situation.”

He went on to note that Trump has a history of parroting accusations others throw at him regardless of whether the label makes any sense. A glaring example was when Hillary Clinton accused Trump of being a Putin puppet and he accused her of being Putin’s puppet.


More (Includes video): http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/he-may-not-even-understand-watergate-former-nixon-lawyer-schools-trumps-obama-wiretap-claim/


'Trump may not even understand Watergate': Former Nixon lawyer schools Trump

March 4, 2017

Joy Reid shames media with battered pundit syndrome: Theres a desperate thirst for normal

Real Time” host Bill Maher called out the media on his Friday show for fawning all over President Donald Trump exploiting the widow of a fallen soldier.

Maher quoted Katy Tur who said it was the best moment of the speech. “Actually, it was the worst moment,” he said. “Because, first, he get this guy killed ordering a raid over dinner between the appetizer and the entree. He was at dinner, right, that he decided to do this. It was because (President Barack) Obama wouldn’t do it, like, ‘Obama’s a p*ssy, so I’m going to do it.'”

Maher cited the soldier’s father who wondered why we had to have a grand display this early in Trump’s term. “That sounds right to me,” Maher said.

Joy Reid said that she believes there is a “desperate thirst for normal” that Trump can do anything that a real president might do, even down to speaking slower and people fawn over it.

Political commentator Charlie Sykes said that it is almost as if the media has “battered pundit syndrome.”


More (Includes video): http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/joy-reid-shames-media-with-battered-pundit-syndrome-theres-a-desperate-thirst-for-normal/

March 4, 2017

Bill Maher shreds Jeffrey Lord for claim Russia didnt influence the election: Dont bullsh*t me!

In a contentious interview with conservative Jeffrey Lord, “Real Time” host Bill Maher hammered the CNN pundit for supporting a “vulgar human being” like Donald Trump.

Lord tried to pivot that Hillary Clinton was just as vulgar because she called many of Trump’s supporters a “basket of deplorables.” Lord also claimed that Russia didn’t have any influence in the 2016 election because no electronic voting machines were hacked.

“Don’t bullsh*t me!” Maher shouted, literally calling BS on Lord’s runaway hyperbole. He went on to explain that Russia had an influence in the election as cited by 17 intelligence agencies. He went on to say that one way Trump could clear it up was by releasing his tax returns so that Americans could ensure there are no conflicts of interest.

As he’s prone to do when he’s losing an argument, Lord began repeating Maher’s name over and over again. He explained that Nancy Pelosi met with the same person that then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) met with.

“Well, let’s have an investigation to her,” Maher rolled his eyes. “But Russians didn’t hack Nancy Pelosi’s election. They hacked our election, all of our intelligence agencies said for one side to win, your side. Are you telling me if it had worked out the other way and they were only hacking the Republicans to get Hillary elected you’d let it slide?”


More (Includes video): http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/bill-maher-shreds-jeffrey-lord-for-claim-russia-didnt-influence-the-election-dont-bullsht-me/

March 4, 2017

Real Time With Bill Maher - S15E07 Full Video (March 3, 2017) HBO

Guests: former White House associate political director (1987–1988) and political commentator Jeffrey Lord, political commentator Charlie Sykes, law professor and author Rosa Brooks, political correspondent Joy Reid and environmentalist Bill McKibben

March 2, 2017

Oklahoma's earthquake threat now equals California's because of man-made temblors, USGS says

The earthquake risk for Oklahoma and southern Kansas is expected to remain significant in 2017, threatening 3 million people with seismic events that can produce damaging shaking, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey forecast released Wednesday.

The seismic risk is forecast to be so high that the chance of damage in Oklahoma and southern Kansas is expected to be similar to that of earthquakes in California, USGS scientists writing in the journal Seismological Research Letters said Wednesday.

In 2016 alone, Oklahoma experienced several damaging earthquakes, including a magnitude 5.0 temblor in November near the central oil town of Cushing — which proclaims itself the “Pipeline Crossroads of the World” — that dislodged unreinforced bricks in chimneys and storefronts, sending them tumbling onto the sidewalks.

Oklahoma also saw the largest quake ever recorded in the state in 2016, when a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck near Pawnee.

The earthquakes are thought to be the result of the disposal of wastewater deep underground that are a byproduct of oil extraction. Injecting the wastewater underground is not thought to trigger earthquakes everywhere it is practiced — in North Dakota, for example — but is widely believed by scientists to be a problem in Oklahoma.


More: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-oklahome-earthquake-20170301-story.html

March 2, 2017

Children's Climate Lawsuit Aims to Unearth Documents From Oil Group API

Young plaintiffs hope to uncover how the fossil fuel industry influenced government policies that accelerated climate change

Attorneys representing 21 children who are suing the federal government over its responsibility to slow climate change are seeking answers from the oil and gas industry. The plaintiffs want to uncover what role fossil fuel interests played in shaping government climate policies.

The plaintiffs in Juliana v. United States filed a request for documents from the American Petroleum Institute (API), the largest U.S. trade group for the oil and gas industry and an intervenor on behalf of the U.S. government in the case.

The request seeks a wide range of documents, including any from internal API groups related to climate change and government lobbying. Examples noted in the request include API's CO2 and Climate Change Task Force, its Environmental Strategy Team and its Climate Change Steering Group. It also seeks communications with Exxon and other oil companies discussing climate.

The request specifically seeks memoranda written by individual industry researchers, lobbyists, trade association employees and other fossil fuel advocates. Those people were engaged in early research into climate change and in attempts by the industry to sow doubt about the emerging consensus that global warming is caused by emissions from fossil fuels.


More: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01032017/childrens-trust-climate-change-lawsuit-api

March 2, 2017

Whats should Nebraska's state reptile be? Public can vote for 6 animals

You may know the Nebraska state bird, the western meadowlark. Maybe you know the state flower, goldenrod.

Maybe you even know that our state fossil is the mammoth, and our state tree is the cottonwood, and our state gem is blue chalcedony.

So what’s the Nebraska state reptile?

Well, we don’t have one. At least not yet.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is holding a public vote on which critter should become the state’s official reptile. Nebraskans are invited to choose from six options on the commission’s website, http://outdoornebraska.gov/reptilevote/


More: http://www.omaha.com/living/what-s-should-nebraska-s-state-reptile-be-public-can/article_e4cc6e78-5272-5edf-8bd4-07233a48279b.html

March 2, 2017

Puppies explain #RussiaGate to kittens

https://twitter.com/VicStoddard/status/835665784122781696