the DON JONES INDEX… |
|||
|
GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED 11/18/24... 14,815.40 11/11/24... 14,811.87 |
||
6/27/13… 15,000.00 |
|||
(THE DOW JONES
INDEX: 11/25/24... 43,444.99; 11/11/24...
43,981.99; 6/27/13… 15,000.00) |
|||
LESSON for NOVEMBER
EIGHTEENTH, 2024
“HIEROPHANTS,
SYCOPHANTS, PINK ELEPHANTS!”
No sooner were
bullets picked up, ballots counted and results declared than was Trump Two, The
Adminstration, up and atom; running wild with crimes
and crises aplenty – underlings to vet, foreigners to coax or intimidate as
needed. Only a week into his pre-Inaugration pre-Restoration, Djonald UnEasy was taking names,
scarfing details, making deals to uphold the fiction of “friendly fascism” for
a little while longer while he gleaned such information as President Biden was
prepared to gift him with – facing new martial initiatives from Russia, China,
Father Time and Mother Nature to test his resolve, the din of reckonings on the
way.
Almost lost in the
U.S. media shuffle of Congresspersons, Sentors, other
upper and down-ballot elected officials and appointed executioners of the new
regime’s agenda, world leaders and renowned climatologists were gathering in
Baku, Azerbaijan to deal with the manifestations of a sick planet and its
sicker inhabitants... the Conference of the Parties, or COP 29... that yearly
summit of same convened to take the temperature of the planet and then offer a
few congratulations, more consolations and many, many more excuses... starting
at the top o’the heap – the host.
Azerbaijan is, in
many respect, not unlike the office seekers now
petitioning President Trump for jobs and recognition... a former chonk of the
Soviet Union and, so, a target for reunificationeers
in Moscow, but not until that sticky Ukrainian mess is settled. So long as Azeris behave. Their situation is not unlike that of
applicants and supplicants with dicey past words and deeds surrounding Trump...
in that they have to prove their loyalty in order to preserve their
independence (such as it is). Therefore,
Azeri President Ilham
Aliyev’s almost religious proclamation oil, “a gift from God”, was aimed at the
Russians (who, like the world’s top three petroconsumers,
the Chinese, Indians and Americans, chose to skip that summit).
With the exception
of one CBS overview of world reaction to Trump’s New Term, last week’s lesson
centered upon domestic takeaways from the results – not only Presidential but
from the now-blood-red House, Senate as well as a few Governorships, some
down-ballot races of import and some ballot propositions. The wars still rage, the economy still
stutters and staggers with billionaires ecstatic over
the Dow and tech-loaded S&P while Joneses of the working, middle and even
many upper-middle classpersons sitting at their
generic kitchen tables and worrying over what to eat tonight, or how to finance
spending on a holiday season fast approaching.
Staring the
American administrations, old and new, eye to eye are many manifestations of quandries hanging round for years like old owls – in some
case decades, even centuries... issues of wealth and poverty, war and peace,
identity crimes and crises and, elbowing its way into the forefront, this week
(as ever, on a yearly basis), the survivability of the planet and the species
in habiting it.
While the Ex
turned Electx was huddled in his Mar-a-Lago basement,
filling out his gamecards with appointees to Cabinet, Staff and assorted
positions at high (not sensational, but livable) salaries, a diminished
contingent of world leaders (no USA, no Russia, no China, no India and other
dropouts and walkouts) struggled on and struggled into Baku as, for the (small
“d”) democrats amongst them, the fear, loathing and... for many... sycophancy
escalated as the magnitude of Trump’s win became clear. (See CBS survey of responses to the MAGAvictory attached to last week’s Lesson and reproduced
here as Attachment One).
“With Donald J. Trump’s sweeping election victory on Tuesday,
the world is preparing for another four years of unpredictability and “America
first” protectionism that could reset the ground rules of the global economy,
empower autocrats and erase American protection for democratic partners,” the
New York Times reported on the day after the blowout (Attachment Two)... with
the Exile-turned-Electx promising to Make America
Great Again – meaning “more isolationist, more combative with tariffs, more
openly hostile to immigrants, more demanding of its security partners, and,” as
applicable to COP 29 and all other COPs, past and future, “...less engaged on
global challenges like climate change.”
The election accelerated “the already deep trend of an
America looking inward,” said James Curran, a professor of modern history at
the University of Sydney.
Rounding up cautious responses from India to Italy, Kenya to
Mexico, as well as from competitors like Russia and China and from the United
Nations, the Times singled out Ukraine as the most vulnerable victim should
Trump tilt heavily towards the authoritarian (or, even, totalitarian) right.
While Putin and his pals endeavored to downplay their glee,
President Zelenskyy wrote on X that he appreciated “President Trump’s
commitment to the ‘peace through strength’ approach in global affairs.”
But many of Ukraine’s supporters in the region are “woefully
unprepared for a return of Trump,” said Georgina Wright, a European politics
expert at the Montaigne Institute in Paris.
Amongst NATO, the Times reported “a sense of shock that
American voters have elected a felon who has promoted threats of violence
against journalists and said he would use the courts and the military against domestic
enemies,” despite the unmistakable anti-democratic and anti-incumbent
sentiments that have led to upsets in Italy, a takeover by the far right in
Hungary and a counter-wave in the U.K. - plus a near miss for Macron in France.
“I don’t see a great future for European democracies, if
there is not a strong democratic America as a rock to lean on,” said Nicole Bacharan, a political scientist in Paris.
One of Djonald UnDimmed’s
few enthusiastic supporters was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while
Palestinians resigned themselves to more years of more war.
“He’s crazy, but at least he’s strong,” said Anthony Samrani, the editor in chief of the Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour.
NBC (Attachment Three) reported that China gave the victor a
cautiously congratulatory message as ties have fallen to their lowest point in
decades “amid disputes over trade, technology, Taiwan and Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.”
One person Beijing may turn to for help is tech
billionaire Elon Musk, a devoted Trump supporter with extensive business interests in China who is wildly popular there.
“The Chinese are hoping that he will be someone that can
facilitate a warmer, less containment-oriented set of policies on technology,”
though it remains to be seen whether Musk can deliver on that, said Ian
Bremmer, founder and president of Eurasia Group.
France and Germany
also congratulated Trump but, on the day after the election French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf
Scholz said that the European Union must be united and coordinate more closely
– given “the challenges posed by his "America First" protectionist
trade policy and isolationist rhetoric.”
(Reuters, Attachment Four)
One particular concern for Europe is trade: Trump said last month the European Union would have to
"pay a big price" for not buying enough American exports if he won
the election.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen congratulated
the Republican former president on his victory but also said avoiding trade
wars would be in the U.S interest as well as Europe's.
"Millions of jobs and billions in trade and investment
on each side of the Atlantic depend on the dynamism and stability of our
economic relationship," she said.
Trump, who will take office in January, has said he would
impose a 10% tariff on imports from all countries, and 60% duties on imports
from China.
Europe must be willing to take charge of its own destiny, a
French government spokeswoman said on the day after the election.
“In a number of key sectors – defense, industrial recovery,”
and, notably, “decarbonization – we must take charge of our own destiny,"
Maud Bregeon told the broadcaster RTL. (Le Monde, Attachment Five)
Germany's foreign minister, Annalena
Baerbock, who had just back from a visit to war-torn
Ukraine, said, in comments to the media that "Europeans will now have to
assume even more responsibility for security policy."
Back in our own Western Hemisphere, President
Trump’s larger than expected victory on Tuesday, also signaled a major
shift in U.S. policy including toward Latin America. (Americas Quarterly,
11/6, Attachment Six)
“On the campaign trail, Trump emphasized pledges of
an unprecedented immigration crackdown, including mass deportations, and has
suggested he may impose tariffs on
cross-border trade with Mexico.”
Trump’s victory redefines the U.S. relationship with several
Latin American governments, the Quarterly opined. Perambulating southward from the hotly
contested border, it will have particular significance for newly elected
President Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico. “Border control, migration policy, the
war on drugs, nearshoring, and U.S.-China relations will become central themes
in the binational agenda.
“In contrast, the relationship with Brazil, Latin America’s
largest economy (and the prospective site of COP 30 next year), appears lower
on the priority list, which could accelerate the formation of alternative
global alliances.
“As for Venezuela, it will likely remain a populist talking
point with little expectation of actions to strengthen democratic
outcomes.” For right-wing Latin leaders
like Milei (Argehtina) and Bukele (El Salvador), Trump’s narrative might resonate, but
it remains to be seen “whether this alignment will translate into specific
political actions.”
AQ Editor-in-Chief Brian Winter compared the Trump landslide with “so many we’ve seen in Latin America: Dissatisfaction with
the status quo, and anger over inequality and a distant, self-dealing elite.
Those used to be leftist messages, but now the right often channels them
better... (i)n Latin America and the United States.”
Other AQ reporters
surmised that Latin America can
expect to transition from a period of neglect, even indifference, from the
U.S., “to one of much more engagement—but not necessarily for positive
reasons.”
They foresee conflict with Mexico over immigration... a
Trump tussle... and with Peru over its growing role as a facilitator in the
Chinese Trade. Hostility to Colombia
over cocaine and President Gustavo Petro’s anti-petroleum stance may lead to “a
possible reduction in military aid and even the threat of economic sanctions”
while a perhaps lessening of Venezuelan sanctions might become necessary.
Petro, a critic of Cop 29’s host Aliyeve
was a source, perhaps of some confusion – given the rampaging status of the
world’s petro- (meaning fossile
fuel) bidness in Azerbaijan, as in America. His complaints, like those of many other
climate change challengers, went grotesquely unaddressed but, suggested Justin
Worland in Time on Thursday after the election but before convocation of Cop
29, “Trump has a long history denying the science of climate, and will likely,
once again, reverse U.S. climate efforts at home and abroad” but, this time
out, his presidency “does not represent a death knell to the decarbonization
agenda.
“Both economic factors and political realities globally mean
that climate efforts will continue.”
The economic factors, Time reported (Attachment Seven, 11/8,
11:10 AM) including restraints on the (IRA) Inflation Reduction Act and (EPA) Environmental Protection
Agency
are tempting, but... should a deregulatory agenda manifest, “the role of Elon
Musk remains an open question.” The Tesla founder benefits from many IRA
incentives and greeniness is a huge marketing
component of his empire. So, time (and Time) will tell what the Muskmellon wants “and what role he will play.”
“(I)t would be easy to conclude that the U.S. climate
movement is about to come to a screeching halt. But the truth is that while
Trump may slow decarbonization efforts he won’t be able to stop it fully. Data from the Rhodium Group and MIT tracks $493 billion in
clean technology investment in the two years following the passage of the IRA,
a 71% increase over the preceding two years. Companies may backtrack some of
those investments in response to the new political climate, but many clean
manufacturing investments already have steel in the ground.”
It’s hard to deny that, in the short term, the climate issue
has fallen to the wayside of the mainstream conversation, Time opined... the
summer heat, wildfires and floods be damned. At least they allowed that public
attention (and the business community) will remain sleeping on the sidelines...
insurance markets, they note, “have begun to crack under the pressure of
repeated natural disasters. It’s only a matter of time before voters—and
customers—feel those costs in their pocket books and politicians feel them in
the voting booth.”
Further,
another Time-piece on the topic twenty minutes after Attachment Seven, warned
that “...giving up on climate action in a
second Trump term isn’t an option.”
(Attachment Eight, 11/8 11:30 AM)
Dominique Browning, a co-founder and the director of Moms
Clean Air Force (dedicated to protecting children from pollution, toxic
chemicals and the dangerous impacts of global warming) editorialized that, as
election results poured in, she felt despair and grief.
Climate change wasn’t on the ballot this election cycle. The
subject barely made the debate stage, although one candidate once referred to it as a hoax while his newly designated most trusted advisor, who
has made a fortune on electric vehicles, can’t go that far but says the impacts
are highly exaggerated. The other candidate was busy reassuring a certain bloc of voters that we are pumping out more fossil fuels than ever
before—and exporting them to countries to burn as well—even while her own
president had made historic, transformative
investments in
clean energy and transportation.
The ignorance and denial resulted in an election that “took
place in an envelope of extreme weather events, the likes of which we have also never before seen: massive
flooding, record-breaking heat waves, devastating wildfires, catastrophic
storms, considerable loss of life, home, and community.” And, like Alfred E. Neumann, America shrugged
and said: “What, me worry?”
Rather than wallow in defeat, though, Browning
proposed that “we face our dread head-on and use it to galvanize our advocacy.
Global warming’s negative impacts transcend parties and red-blue-purple state
lines. It is very real, very powerful, and a fundamental part of the DNA of the
fear we are all feeling. No, we did not vote for an administration that would
deal with this problem. But equally, people did not vote to destroy the
stability of our planetary climate.”
Actually, as subsequent events and personages named to positons of power, Browning misspoke. Climate change may not have been an upfrone election issue in the media and in the campaign
advertising, but Team Trump had and now has plans for Mother Earth, and they
are not the kind of plans as would be welcomed by most of the delegates, if not
the hosts, of Cop 29.
While the American
left and center-left media were distracted and disheartened by the aftermath of
the election, Cop29 coverage was largely claimed by the liberal Guardian U.K. –
already disposed towards skepticism even as delegates straggled in on
Decoration/Veteran’s Day with more arriving on Tuesday.
British liberals,
looking backward to retired COPs like 28, and also looking forward to Baku,
identified ten big issues that... they claim... would be “under the spotlight”,
according to GUK’s science editor, Robin McKie (11/9, Attachent
Nine)
This Top Ten Hit List was composed
of...
1. Broken records (for global carbon emissions
and atmospheric carbon levels, as well as for temperatures)
2. The heat is on (COP28 agreed on nebulous “transitioning away” from fossil
fuels) but most delegates and critics thought this weak,
and “(t)he arrival of
Donald Trump is unlikely to help their cause.”
3. America (where
Trump’s victory in the presidential
election cast a particularly bleak shadow over the already gloomy preparations being made for COP
29) As it turned out, the Azeris and
their frackin’ oily backers were quite capable of
making the convention a Clown Congress on their very ownselves.
4.
‘The big
hoax’ (that is climate change, according to Djonald UnHoaxed... the “faintest ray of hope now that the world
will limit global warming to 1.5C, but Donald Trump may extinguish it,” says an
ecologist).
5. Boiling point – UN
SecGen Guterres says fossil fuel companies have
“humanity by the throat”. The era of global warming has ended, he has argued
and “the era of global boiling has arrived.”
6,
Tipping over –
Tipping points include the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, a massive
die-off of tropical coral reefs and hundreds of millions of people finding
their homelands “no longer habitable.”
But don’t come to America...
7. Follow the money -
developing countries will need an additional $500bn to $1 trillion per year in
climate finance from international sources to pay for global warming triggered
by emissions generated by developed countries.
8. Gaslight - a senior official
in Azerbaijan’s Cop29 team, Elnur Soltanov, told
a man posing as a potential investor: “We have a lot of gas fields that are to
be developed..”
9. Stepping stone – giving up on Cop 29,
researchers look forward to Cop 30 in Brazil.
It can’t be worse...
10. Running out of
time - “With Trump’s win, we now face, at best, a repeat of his last term’s
climate inaction – a four-year pause we simply can’t afford in this critical
decade,” says another researcher.
And, throughout
Sunday before the convention convened, the inevitable financial issues and tin
cup rattlings were raised.
“Cop29 could change the financial climate for the world’s wealthy
polluters,” wished and hoped Jillian Ambrose, GUK energy correspondent. (11/10,
Attachment Ten)
“Campaigners have called for the governments of wealthier
countries to contribute to a new collective quantified goal (NCQG) on climate
finance. Forecasts of how much this will be vary but
are typically $500bn to $1tn a year, or less than 1% of global GDP. Some
estimates are as high as $5tn.
“Setting a more ambitious goal will be essential to helping
vulnerable countries adopt clean energy and other low-carbon solutions and
build resilience to worsening climate impacts,” said the World Resources
Institute.
“Climate finance is not about charity or generosity but
responsibility and justice,” according to Debbie Hillier, a policy lead at the
humanitarian NGO Mercy Corps. “It is based firmly on the principle of common
but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities – those who
contributed most to the climate crisis must bear the brunt of the solution.”
Surveys, by Oxfam and YouGov, show strong public support for
increasing taxes on private jets, super yachts and the wealthiest UK
individuals to fund action, and hiking taxes on businesses in sectors that
produce the most emissions.
Or, as in America, just smile and slide on.
There were few
Veteran’s Day homages raised as delegates began arriving in Baku. President Joe passed on the fun, sending a delegation led by John D. Podesta, former Obama counselor
now senior adviser to the president for international climate policy (WashPost 11/11, Attachment Eleven) to kick off a series of
takeaways.
Podesta asserted that the United States would “continue to
reduce emissions, benefiting our own country and benefiting the world” despite
the election results, saying that President Joe’s signature climate law, the
Inflation Reduction Act, is spurring more investments in Republican-led congressional districts than
Democratic-led ones. That will make it difficult for Trump and congressional
Republicans to repeal the law, he said.
Stories the Post told included tales and pix
of Grenada... devastated by Hurricane Beryl... and of why so many big and bit players alike are finding
better ways to waste their time.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva canceled after suffering a head injury last month. German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz will no longer attend after his ruling three-party coalition collapsed last
week. ”Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof decided to
stay at home in order to address the fallout from attacks against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi are also expected to be no-shows...” and, of
course, Intnational War Criminal Vladir
Putin dis-attended.
The
rationale... at least for rational, disappointed delegates... was distilled by climate activist
and agitator Greta Thunber, who editorialized in GUK
that the ‘theme’
chosen for Cop29 “must be some kind of dark joke. This summit, like those
before it, is a mere act of greenwashing...”
(11/11, Attachment Twelve) that “...legitimise
countries’ failures to ensure a livable world and future and have also allowed
authoritarian regimes like Azerbaijan and the two previous hosts – the United
Arab Emirates and Egypt – to continue violating human rights.”
Azerbaijan’s entire economy is built on fossil fuels, with
the state-owned oil company Socar’s oil and gas
exports accounting for close to 90% of the
country’s exports.
“Many attenders
of this year’s Cop are scared to criticise the
Azerbaijan government. Human Rights Watch recently published a
statement explaining
how it couldn’t be certain that attenders’ rights to peacefully protest would
be guaranteed. In addition, Azerbaijan land and sea borders will remain closed during Cop29, making it only possible to travel in and
out of the country by air, which causes pollution and which many Azerbaijan
citizens can’t afford. The reason given for closing borders at all Cops since
the start of the Covid pandemic is to maintain “national security”, but I’ve
heard many Azerbaijanis describe the situation as being “kept in a prison”.
“During Cop29, the picture of Azerbaijan reported by the media will be a
whitewashed and greenwashed version that the regime is desperate to portray.
But make no mistake – it is a repressive state accused of ethnic cleansing.”
Thunberg asked how did
Azerbian
get to host the climate summit? Why...
it was eastern Europe’s turn! But Russia vetoed EU member states, so the
options were either Armenia or Azerbaijan. Armenia lifted its veto against
Azerbaijan and supported its bid in exchange for a release of
prisoners,
although a large number of Armenian political prisoners are still being held.
GUK’s Day One
timeline highlighted the long overdue approval of carbon credit trade rules, breaking a
lengthy deadlock (Attachment Thirteen) but began sputtering thereafter. as poor
and island nations began growling about their war on the west. Citing high temperatures, windfall superprofits for the oilies and a
dead whale beached in Baku, GUK reported that Lise Masson of
Friends of the Earth had joined poor and
island nations growling about their war on the west by calling the gavelling through of carbon markets unacceptable, as
undermining the credibility of the whole process.
Said process opens the “floodgates” for a global carbon
market that, she said, “will have devastating impacts on communities in the
global south, on Indigenous peoples, and on small peasant farmers first and
foremost. Carbon markets are not climate finance, and we cannot accept these
neocolonial schemes to be propped up as a success of Cop29 in lieu of paying
the climate debt owed to the global south.”
In the West, President-elect Trump
was turning heads and making more than a few spin
aimlessly as he started filling out his Cabinet with more howlers than a cage
full of laboratory mystery monkeys.
Attorney General
designated Matt Gaetz – pumped and primed for
retribution and revenge and, as a felicitous by-product of nomination, the
dissolution of pending rape and pedophilia charges lodged against him back in
2017.
Keeping the
promises that so many liberals thought ws a joke, Ol’ 47 appointed conspiracy theorist and former opponent
Bobby Kennedy Junior to be America’s health czar to exultant celebration from
the measles, the mumps, AIDS and Covid.
RFK, at least, did say that he would not send Gaetz
and the minions of Homeland Security nominee Kristi Noem
door-to-door to confiscate bad pills, shoot dogs and haul the sick community
off to prison.
And then, striking
directly at Nature... another of his demonic demons... Djonald
UnBurningman responded to a summer of warmth and
wildfires by transferring responsibility for climate and a few other things
(parks, recreation, trees, buffalo) into the paws and claws of his proposed
Interior Secretary... another former foe turned sycophant Doug Burgum, the
former Governor of North Dakota (where sunbathers were tanning on the banks of
the Red River only days ago) and former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) to head up
the Environmental Protection Agency.
Relatively speaking, Burgum... prior to his rolling up into
a little ball to fit in Djonald’s pocket... has not
been accounted particularly dangerous, he mouthed leftist (to MAGA) views about
wheat and wheatfields during the campaign and was soundly thrashed.
The far-right Washington Examiner (no relation to the
Washington Post or even the National Examiner) found public and private sector
men of wealth and taste to send up hifalutin’ hosannas to the Dakotan.
American
Petroleum Institute head Mike Sommers said on X, “As Governor of a top production state, DougBurgum has demonstrated a keen understanding of the
importance of harnessing America’s energy advantage.”
“We look
forward to working with him once confirmed to implement a pro-American approach
to federal energy leasing, starting with developing a new five-year offshore
leasing program and removing barriers to onshore leasing to fully leverage our
nation’s natural resources,” Sommers added.
Louisiana
Sen. Bill Cassidy said on X: “Gov. Doug Burgum comes from an energy state and understands
the importance of production and lease sales to create better jobs and bolster
our energy security. He will also be sensitive to preserving the environment
for future generations. I look forward to supporting him in the Senate Energy
and Natural Resources Committee EnergyGOP.”
Energy and
Natural Resources Committee ranking member Sen. John Barrasso said
in a statement that “Governor Burgum knows what it takes to unleash
American energy. He recognizes how important our federal lands are for energy
and mineral production, grazing, and recreation.”
He added “As
North Dakota’s governor, he’s shown he can balance environmental stewardship
with record energy development. President Trump and Governor Burgum will make
America energy dominant.”
In response to Burgum’s pick, House Natural Resources
Committee member Rep. Jared Huffman (D) told Politico, “Could be worse for sure.” He said “I look forward to
trying to work productively with him.”
(Nov. 15, Attachment Fourteen)
Zeldin (no relation to the former girlfriend of former TV
icon Dobie Gillis) is another matter.
The uber-sober Greenies at Truthout – considering the
past, present and future prospects of President Joe and the resurrected Trump
viewed Zeldin’s appointment as just more evidence that Trump’s second
presidency is shaping up to be “even more catastrophic” for climate and the
environment after Djonald UnKrebs
announced that the former New York Rep. would be the new head of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), promising Zeldin will “ensure fair and
swift deregulatory decisions.” (November 11, Attachment Fifteen)
Deregulation will
likely have devastating impacts for the predominantly Black, Latinx and
low-income Americans living in the country’s “sacrifice zones” — areas heavily
polluted by fossil fuel infrastructure, the Truthwokesters
predicted.
“We will restore
US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs,
and make the US the global leader of AI,” Zeldin wrote on X. “We will do so
while protecting access to clean air and water.” As a congressman, Zeldin voted
against Clean Air Act protections; Suffolk County, which is in Zeldin’s former
district, has some of the worst air quality in New York State.
An environmental
journal, whimsically titled DeSmog surmised that
Z-Man Lee and host Aliyev would enjoy a fruitful and beautiful relationship in
the future – even if he was not yet to secure his ticket to Baku as an Official
American delegate.
That honor, such
as it was, fell to past and present (but probably not future) fixer John
Podesta.
Who got along to
get along with Awful Aliyev.
Zeldin, the Smogsters wrote, is “part of the America First Policy
Institute, (AFPI)” a pro-Trump think tank that Jesus Freakin’
frackin’ billionaire Tim Dunn, Brooke Rollins, who
previously served as Trump’s director of domestic policy, and WWF/WWE wrestling
witch Linda McMahon, founded to push anti-climate policies, presumably to
hasten the coming of the End of Days.
(November 13, Attachment Sixteen)
Dunn, who has a
net worth of $2.2 billion, was one of Trump’s biggest donors, contributing $5
million through his company to the Super PAC Make America Great Again. He’s
been vocal about wanting Trump to reverse policies aimed at slowing climate
change.
“It would be ideal
if we could get rid of this ‘CO2 as a pollutant’ business,” Dunn said at an
AFPI event in 2023, stating that he hoped a Trump presidency could use
executive orders “to curb all this silliness about CO2 emissions.”
The Smogsters
noted that Zeldin, a former House representative who campaigned
unsuccessfully to be governor of New York in 2022, “doesn’t have a lengthy
track record in climate change and energy.”
But climate advocates predict that as head of the EPA he will loyally
implement policies favorable to oil and gas producers.
“He will move to
execute a fossil-fuel agenda on behalf of the far-right and billionaire donors
like Dunn,” Pete Sikora, climate campaigns director for the nonprofit New York
Communities for Change, told DeSmog.
A policy document
AFPI refers to the landmark 2015 Paris climate framework as an example of
“lop-sided, unenforceable, America-last international agreements,” and claims
that the Biden administration and climate advocates used “a myopic focus on
climate change as a justification for its sweeping radical agenda and massive
government expansions.”
“The document
calls for the federal government to open the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to
drilling, attack legislation including the Clean Air Act and Endangered Species
Act, and streamline federal approvals for liquefied natural gas export
projects.
“That approach
“coincides perfectly with Dunn’s economic interests in extracting every last
drop of oil and gas in the Permian Basin, thereby torching the climate, while
he makes an enormous profit,” Sikora told DeSmog.
(We’ll
have more on Dunn, AFPI, God, Zeldin, Trump and some other hierophants and
sycophants next week when we peruse Djonald’s quickly
cohering cabinet. - DJI)
GUK published timelines for all six days of Week One of COP
29 and proceedings as the hierophants of the Green left first greenlit the
once touted Green Cop29, a revisioning and rewriting of the carbon credit rules
and regulations forumualted in earlier conferences
(See Attachment Eighteen) – then distanced themselves with a critical letter
signed by no less authoritive authorities than United
Nations chief António Gutierres - calling 2024 a “masterclass in human
destruction” (Attachment Nineteen) and newly elected Labour
PM Keir Starmer (who promised an 81% cut in
greenhouse gas emissions by 2035) that he also promised would occur “without telling people how to live their lives.” (Attachment Twenty)
And some foreigners think Trump is delusional!
GUK’s Day Two
recap of the already disintegrating conference featured an editorial of their own
(Attachment Twenty One) citing the “masterclass”, the
greenhouse gas and the American President and citing Aliyev’s petrobillions, noted that the national symbol of the
country is... a flame.
But even more
disturbing to the delegates than the prospect of a burning world were... food prices at the official concession parlours.
Not content to
disrespect and dismiss the delegates’ appeals, Aliyev brokered a network of
price gouging that would have impressed a sous chef in New York or fishmonger
in Singapore.
“Delegates needing perking up after a late night of
negotiating have to shell out $10 for an Americano with soy milk. Think a
single espresso might do the trick?” asked GUK’s Damian Carrington, “...$3.50
appears to be the cheapest coffee on offer. How about vitamin C boost? A small
grapefruit juice is $11.”
“It’s crazy – for one stupid sandwich, you pay the same as
what we paid for the whole week [outside the conference],” says Sandra Guzman,
from Mexico. “Outside the conference, everything is so cheap, and then you come
here.”
“It’s not fair at all – not at all,” she said. “And this is
precisely why delegations from smaller countries have only one or two people –
they cannot afford it.” Rich country delegates run to hundreds and even
thousands of delegates.
For any delegate feeling extremely flush there is a bar,
revealed GUK. “Among the offerings there are a bottle of red wine – Solaia 2016 – for $1940. It appears to be available online
for about $500. The cheapest red wine – Meyseri Mekhmeri – is a comparative snip at $74. There’s also Dom Perignom Brut champagne at $880 and the cheapest sparkling
wine – Astoria brut – is $69.
“If spirits are your thing, there’s Don Julio 1942 tequila
at $80 a shot.”
“Rapacious catering costs” vied with foreign delegates (and
many of their leaders, staying safely home) as COPversation
mostly denounced Trump’s election. CBS,
(Attachment Twenty Three) interviewing a few aliens of
note in advance of the summit.
Among the few enthusiasts were the predictable... Israel’s
Netanyahu crowing that Trump’s “historic return to the White House offers a new
beginning for America”... none of that boring Biden
pity for the starving Palestinians.
Another rooter was Hungary’s Viktor Orban, who
called the win "a much needed victory for the
World!"
More cautious sentiments were expressed by both Russia’s
Leonid Slutsky and Ukraine’s President Z.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning congratulated Trump... but
there were no public reactions from either Xi or Putin.
NATOnobs like Starmer, France’s Macron and
German Chancellor Sholz congratulated Trump, but the
EU began laying plans to "work towards a more united, stronger, more
sovereign Europe.” Just in case.
The naysayers were also predictable. "The election of the U.S. President is not
relevant to us," said Fatemeh Mohajerani, a spokesperson for Iran's ruling
Islamic regime. Basem
Naim of Hamas called Trump's reelection, "a
private matter for the Americans," but ventured that he hoped Trump would
kick the Jews out of Israel.
The Americas Quarterly (Attachment Twenty Four) interviewed several men and women south of the
border, opining that the victory would have particular significance for newly elected President
Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico. Border control, migration policy, the war on
drugs, nearshoring, and U.S.-China relations will become central themes in the
binational agenda.
In contrast, the relationship with Brazil, Latin America’s
largest economy, appears lower on the priority list, “which could accelerate
the formation of alternative global alliances”, Venezuela is likely to remain
“a populist talking point with little expectation of actions to strengthen
democratic outcomes” and AG suggested that Trump’s narrative might “resonate”
with the new right-wing strongmen Milei and Bukele.
AQ editor-in-chief Brian Winter called Brazil a question
mark. The results
”breathe new oxygen into Bolsonaro’s movement,” and their hopes he too
can make an improbable comeback – and overcome the judicial rulings prohibiting
him from running in 2026. There bolsonaristas with influence
in Trump’s world trying to push this idea that Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva is anti-democratic and anti-Western, and Brazil should be
sanctioned – COPistas can now begin speculating on
whether the new American President might pay Belem a visit next year.
As for Argentina, Milei called his
delegates home on Wednesday... the Argentinian president - a right-wing
populist who has previously dubbed the climate crisis a "socialist
lie" - having communicated with US president-elect Donald Trump the day
before, according to his spokesperson.
(Sky News U.K., Nov. 14, Attachment Twenty Five)
Mr Trump had told Mr Milei "you are my favourite
president", spokesperson Manuel Adorni wrote on
X.
Sky also reported that the COP29 presidency team found
itself embroiled in another diplomatic spat yesterday when French climate
minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher cancelled her trip.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev had accused France of
"crimes" in its overseas territories in the Caribbean.
Tensions between the two are long-standing due to Paris'
support for rival Armenia.
Other nations, of
course, had assessed the prestige of the gathering and either declined or had
sent delegates far down their own food chain – with or without allowance for
the extortionate food and lodgings.
The Financial Times reported that Russia had
urged Trump to remain in the Paris accords (if not future COPs) while Saudi
Arabia drew smiles after stating that the sheikhs were “committed to
making the transition to a green energy system.” (Attachment Twenty Six)
China also
expressed a guarded hope, but former US Vice President Al Gore dismissed the
convention as standing in “the shadows of oil” and warned that western
countries “were losing ground to emerging markets, especially China, when it
came to climate change and the energy transition.”
President-in-waiting
Trump, was, of course a no show; nor did sick old Joe risk the disrespect from
the poor nations or the grim cuisine and lethal diseases of the host.
Truthout’s
Schuyler Mitchell, (Thursday, Attachment Twenty Seven) compared making progress
on global climate action to tunnel-digging through a mountain “with only a
spoon and some elbow grease”.
“What’s more, as
negotiators meet to hash out a deal, they do so with the knowledge that any
work they do could be quickly undone: President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent
return to the White House means that the U.S. will likely pull out of any pact
in just a few short months.”
Three GUK
reporters solicited the views of “influential climate policy experts” who agree
that future UN
climate summits “should be held only in countries that can show clear support
for climate action and have stricter rules on fossil fuel lobbying.” (Thursday, Attachment Twenty
Eight)
Azerbaijan
is a controversial host for the conference, as it is a major fossil fuel
producer, with oil and gas making up half of its exports. Last year’s
conference was also held in a petrostate, the United Arab Emirates, and the president
of that edition, Sultan Al Jaber, kept his main job of heading the country’s
national oil company, Adnoc.
At
least 1,773 coal, oil and gas lobbyists were been granted access to Cop29, according to data analysed by
the Kick Big Polluters Out activist coalition. That is more than all but three
countries (Azerbaijan, Brazil and Turkey), and considerably more than the 10
nations most vulnerable to the climate crisis, who have a combined 1,033
delegates.
Protesters
who (carefully) rallied outside of the Cop venue at the Olympic Stadium in Baku
were in no doubt who should provide the money. “Make polluters pay” read the
giant banner unfurled over the conference, as campaigners chanted the slogan.
A report by
a taskforce led by Laurence Tubiana, a former French
diplomat and the current chief of the European Climate Foundation, found that
new “global solidarity levies” could raise large sums towards the climate
finance needed for the poor world.
Levying a
charge on cryptocurrencies – which are energy-intensive to create – could be
one option, the report found. Charging just $0.045 per kWh for the energy would
produce $5bn, it said.
A plastics
production levy, charged on producing plastics from polymers rather than from
recycled material, could yield $25bn-$35bn a year if set at $60 to $90 a tonne. Even more effective would be a 2% wealth tax, an
idea championed by Brazil, which could yield $200bn-$250bn a year.
Taxing
frequent flyers and business class airline tickets could generate up to $164bn
a year, depending on the design of the scheme.
Tubiana said: “One of the founding pillars of the Paris agreement
is financial solidarity between developed and developing countries. Such
solidarity makes it possible for all countries to gradually raise their
national ambitions to achieve the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5C.
However, there can be no climate justice without fiscal justice.”
Besides the plot to tax crypto, GUK’s Day Four takeaways
(Attachment Twenty Nine) included US officials still
claiming that Biden’s energy revolution would be “unstoppable”, but with
Republicans in short supply at Cop, and postponement of a crashed EU
deforestation prohibition.
Friday, Day Five’s
takeaways (Attachment Thirty), found Jacob Levine, Biden’s climate and energy
surrogate, declaring the president has set into motion a “deeply d and
integrated vision” for the clean energy transition and that businesses would
demand carbon-free technologies, despite Djonald UnClean.
There were
recycled complaints about food and drink prices, comments about pavilions
dedicated to Turkish Art and a proposed stock and bond transfer tax along with
interviews with children in South Sudan, where schools were closed for two
weeks during an extreme heat wave.
“Oh my gosh. It
feels like you’re frying up, or you’re burning up or something of that kind,”
said Siama, 16. “It’s really bad.”
Asad Rehman, executive
director of War on Want which is part of the demand climate justice coalition,
told a panel in Baku: “We stand at a crossroads with the very future of humanity
at stake, facing a life or death struggle for
humanity: on the one side the right of everyone to live with dignity or a world
of walls and fences and sacrificed people,” he said.
Euronews also covered Day Five (Attachment
Thirty One) and also covered dystopian food, the open letter from exports
criticizing the host selection process and watched 65 private jets land in Baku in the week to Monday. Of those, 45 arrived on
Sunday and Monday as the summit began.
“That’s twice as many jets compared with the same week last
year, when 32 private jets touched down at Baku international airport.”
They also reported on UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ meeting with young
climate activists at the conference.
“I’m very grateful for your extremely strong commitment, and I promise
you that I am entirely on your side,” he told them.
“You have every right to be angry. I am angry too. I am
angry because we are on the verge of the climate abyss, and I don’t see enough
urgency or political will to address the emergency.”
As the global
environmental paupers, especially the drowning islanders rattled their tin cups
even more furiously, demanding to be paid off – perhaps so their populations
could move to safer and more suitable climes like Nepal or Bolivia.
Climate leaders were
worried Trump would derail talks.
“They didn’t know their host would be the wrecking ball,” CNN opined on Friday
morning. (Attachment Thirty Two)
“In what should be one of the most urgent meetings of the
year — aimed at slowing a global crisis fast spiraling out of control — the
talks have descended into a circus of boycotts, political tirades and fossil
fuels celebrations. Its host, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, has...” wrote
Angela Dewan, International Climate Editor, “been its spectacular ringmaster.”
COP29 marks the third year in a row that the climate talks
have been held in either a petrostate, or economy that relies heavily on oil
and gas. The previous two were held in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, and
all three were criticized for alleged human rights abuses in the run-up to
their events.
This year, more than 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists or industry
players had been registered to attend the talks, according to an analysis by a
coalition of groups called Kick Big Polluters Out.
“[Azerbaijan’s president] doesn’t sound like a guardian of
the Paris Agreement. There’s still a week left for this presidency to show that
they are fulfilling that role,” Alex Scott, a senior associate in climate
diplomacy at the Italy-based think tank ECCO, told CNN from Baku, “... but
there are also 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists walking the halls with us here,” she
added, “and they’re also not guardians of the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
On Wednesday, Aliyev accused France and the Netherlands of a
“brutal repression” of voices in what he called their “colonies,” in reference
to overseas territories, including the island nations facing an existential
threat of sea level rise. He also blamed
France for recent deadly unrest on the semi-autonomous island of New Caledonia.
(Baku has been at loggerheads with both over their stances
on the Azerbaijan-Armenia territorial conflict.)
France’s ecology minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher,
was due to lead the French delegation but canceled her trip over the remarks.
The European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Joseph Borrell,
chimed in on X, calling Aliyev’s allegations “regrettable.”
“These unacceptable statements risk to undermine the
conference’s vital climate objectives and the credibility of Azerbaijan’s COP29
presidency,” he wrote.
Friday afternoon, the WashXaminer
explicated several takeaways from the failing conference – including a guarded
assessment of the newly appointed Burgum as IntSec. (above, Attachment Fourteen)
The other
takeaways from the MAGAlicious Xaminer
included the Club of Rome letter denouncing COP29 and recommending future COPs
shift their focus towards implementation of policy rather than negotiation,
another mixed review of China’s plans to curb emissions, known as a nationally
determined contribution (NDC), the Trump/Biden scuffling over elimination of
President Joe’s $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases as
part of MAGA’s tax-reform legislation.
(Attachment Thirty Three)
The measure
would benefit China, which might make the President-elect seem hypocritical,
but it would also benefit Trump’s new best bro, Elon Musk.
Finally, the
Xaminer warned that the Environmental Protection
Agency’s new zero-tolerance standards for removing lead dust in properties to
prevent lead exposure for children could hurt affordable
housing
and Appalachian Power’s plans to build a nuclear reactor near Lynchburg, VA (of
Falwell fame)... a venture hailed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin,
who called “advanced” nuclear power the “heart of Virginia’s All-American,
All-of-the Above Energy Plan.”
And no less
authority than former United States Vice Al Gore decried the viciousness of the
Azeri regime and its collusion with, as some put it “those frackin’
#&@$s”. (AP, Attachment Thirty Four) adding that “it’s unfortunate that the fossil fuel industry and the
petrostates have seized control of the COP process to an unhealthy degree.”
Conference lead negotiator Yalchin
Rafiyev defended the process... sort of... “it’s
better than any alternative.”
Also at the talks Friday, new data from an organization
co-founded by Gore that combines observations and artificial intelligence found
that cities in Asia and the United States emit the most heat-trapping gas, with
Shanghai the most polluting and that six of the seven states or provinces that
spew more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases are Chinese. (The other is Texas.)
In its ranking of cities, Climate Trace also fingered
Shanghai as worst in the world, followed by Tokyo, New York City, Houston and
Seoul, South Korea.
The only positive was that pollution in the United States decreased but... as with inflation... remained onerous. Climate Trace also tracked traditional
pollutants “such as carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, ammonia,
sulfur dioxide and other chemicals associated with dirty air. Burning fossil
fuels releases both types of pollution, Gore said.”
35x36 from reuters
The woke and humanitarian Western countries at COP29 rassled
over raising $1 trillion in climate finance for the world's poorest and most
vulnerable nations, demanding reparations for climate damage caused by the
rich, while Argentina’s new right-wing leadership yanked its delegation out –
auguring a more hostile tone from the yankee
delegates (and their dollars) next year under President Trump.
Trump's presidential election win has cast the United States' future role in climate
talks into doubt, and tension between developed and developing nations has
bubbled to the surface on the main stages and in negotiating rooms.
"Parties must remember that the clock is ticking,"
COP29 Lead Negotiator Yalchin (“the Unflappable”) Rafiyev told a news conference.
The previous annual finance goal of $100 billion expires
this year. But wealthy countries only met the pledge in full starting in 2022.
Early Thursday, a report from the Independent High-Level
Expert Group on Climate Finance said the target annual figure would need to
rise to at least $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 if countries fail to act now.
“Argentina's President Javier Milei,
who previously has called global warming a hoax, was due this week to meet Trump, also a climate change denier,” Reuters wrote.
The agricultural journal Grist lamented that, as the first
week of the summit draws to a close, food policy professionals said the outcome
of the latest U.S. presidential election is undermining progress on an issue
that has long been neglected at international climate talks.
“Things look very bad for agriculture and agrifood systems,” said Claudia Ringler, director of the
natural resources and resilience unit at CGIAR’s International Food Policy
Research Institute.
The incoming Trump presidency has “dramatically lowered” her
expectations of tangible outcomes related to food systems. “The chance of
getting something serious and positive out of [COP29]? Extremely bleak,” said
Ringler.
Food systems are responsible for roughly a third of
anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Most of these come from livestock:
Cattle, sheep, and other ruminants belch methane into the air as they digest
food. Methane is 80 to 90 times more powerful than carbon in its first 20 years
in the atmosphere.
Methane emissions are rising faster than any other greenhouse
gas.
Curbing emissions from food systems will require changes to
agricultural consumption and production, while also ensuring the parts of the
world going hungry have access to enough food.
Ringler argues that “the only way to decarbonize the food system is by
affecting food production.”
The U.S. is one of the planet’s leading producers and
consumers of meat and dairy products. At last year’s COP28, as world leaders
signed an agriculture declaration pledge, (Biden’s) U.S. Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack dodged a question about whether people in nations like the U.S.
need to reduce meat consumption to meet climate goals.
Given the election results, the anticipated MAGA rebuttal...
“THEY want to take away your burgers,” is unlikely to win friends and influence
people.
And, as the
remaining, surviving delegates pondered their million manat
meals ($600K in American dollars) the New Scientists at New Scientist
informed the world that the Caspian Sea... d by the Azeris with Russia, Iran
and a few other “stans”… is drying up.
“Water levels in
the Caspian Sea are set to fall dramatically as the climate gets hotter, posing
a major threat to economic activity and ecosystems in the region,” wrote New
Scientist Madeleine Cuff. (Attachment Thirty Seven)
Conversely, the
BBC cited the rain in Spain... as reached a year’s worth in a day... further
rendered COP "no
longer fit for purpose".
(Attachment Thirty Eight)
Just before the latest conference started, a secret
recording showed the chief executive of Azerbaijan's COP-on-the-take team, Elnur Soltanov, discussing "investment
opportunities" in the state oil and gas company with a man posing as a potential investor while Aliyev
denounced critics of the Azeri petro and mineral
wealth.
“Countries should not be blamed for having (natural
resources) and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market
because the market needs them, the people need them."
GUK (Friday, Attachment Thirty Nine)
added that “fossil fuel bosses” needed
Aliyev’s perks... and got them.
Gore called for changes
in the selection process... saying that “...Three years in a row it’s been a petrostate [as host of the
talks]. Obviously it needs to be reformed.”
Delegate/lobbyists
should also be barred unless they could show their companies met certain
standards, he added.
He said:
“The criteria ought to be: do they have a real credible net zero commitment on
the country that they’re from? If not, no. Do they have a plan to phase down
the production of oil and gas? Are they spending an adequate of their windfall profits on the
transition to clean energy? Will they end their anti-climate lobbying? Will
they end their green washing?”
Companies failing to meet these criteria should be excluded.
“The Cop
process may not be perfect, but it has moved the world forward significantly
over the last decade,” replied Mohamed Adow, director
of the Power Shift Africa thinktank. “[Any reform must be] done in a way that
strengthens the process, not weakens it. This forum is the only place where
vulnerable nations have a seat at the table. This is a global challenge that
needs global solutions.”
Laurence Tubiana, a former French diplomat who helped craft the
Paris agreement and is now chief executive of the European Climate Foundation,
said on X: “Multilateralism is the foundation of the climate process. The Paris
agreement happened because every country had a voice. Reforms must strengthen,
not sideline, the consensus-building that builds trust.”
The holders
of host country badges, according to an analysis of UN data seen by the
Guardian, include Amin Nasser, the boss of the Saudi oil company Aramco, and
nine others from his company. Saudi Arabia has long been accused of obstructing
progress at Cops.
The single
biggest beneficiary of the VIP treatment was another Saudi power company, ACWA,
which has coal, gas and renewable assets. Its chief executive, Marco Arcelli, was accompanied by 24 of his staff.
BP’s chief
executive, Murray Auchincloss, was also granted a
host country pass, along with seven others from the company. BP has a long
history in Azerbaijan and remains a key player in the petrostate’s oil and gas
operations. Exxonmobil’s head, Darren Woods, and
three staff also received the special invitations.
But Dawda Cham, from Help-Gambia, an environmental NGO, said: “The
fossil fuel industry has long manipulated climate negotiations to protect its
interests while our planet burns. It’s time to sever these ties and ensure that
the voices of the global south are amplified, not silenced. We must kick big
polluters out of our climate conversations and make them pay.”
As Week One rattled to its close, GUK’s “diary”
reported on importancies and ephemera from Keir Starmer to Gazprom’s Russian fossil fuel colouring
books to soccer star Ronaldinho exciting the mob with his paid visit to the Azerbaijani pavilion, where he “was presented with a project to restore saline
soils and new agricultural technologies”. Unfortunately, Ronaldinho’s thoughts
on the innovations went unreported.
(Attachment Forty)
The Guardian
also reported that “(f)ossil fuel companies broke the
planet, they should pay for it,” according to the website cop29.com.
No, this was
not an oily change of heart... the domain name was acquired by anti-petro Global Witness, who acquired the site from an Indian
couple who used the domain for their family business. They were offered a
significant sum by Azerbaijan’s Cop29 team for the site, Global Witness said,
“but the owners were worried about climate breakdown and decided to let Global
Witness have it instead.”
Also, in the
dead of night (U.S.) but early Friday morning in blimey, GUK’s resident poet, dontcha knowit, and militant
vegan George Monbiot invited humanity to “Picture
an all-seeing eye scanning the dying Earth – and then lighting on our
‘solutions’ at Cop29.”
Being as he was from GUK, his vision of the hierophantasmic
vision was grim. “What would it witness in Azerbaijan? A species that knows it
is destroying itself but is too greedy to change course.” (Attachment Forty One,
Fri 15 Nov 2024)
It views (and condemns) voters
in the United States (where the most powerful people in the nation “are seeking to stifle
knowledge, roll back beneficial technologies and appease the interests pushing
Earth systems towards their tipping points.”)
One might
think the Eye would approve of Starmer’s Labour Party triumph in the U.K. – but think again.
As the eye
watches more closely, it finds that what the new PM and other powerful people
say and what they do are not the same thing. “In fact, his government has
embraced the same lobbyists from the same Earth-tipping industries. But in this
case it presents the lobbyists’ demands as
solutions to
the problem: a situation, if anything, even more remarkable than what the eye
witnessed on the other side of the ocean. If the eye were the religious kind,
it would assume that the devil now reigns on Earth. Perhaps it would not be
wrong.”
The eye
concludes that this is a species “beset by a lethal combination of conformity,
distraction and a fear of offending powerful interests, actively collaborating
in its own extinction. It sees a species dominated by Lords of the Desert:
people prepared to destroy everything as long as they can command the ruins. It
wonders whether the species has a survival instinct at all, or whether,
instead, it has only an instinct to obey.”
Updating
their earlier condemnations of the “unfit” Cop29, four Guardian editorialists
took turns shelling the conference and conferees with harsh words... the
harshest being reserved for those “1700 lobbyists”. (Attachment Forty Two)
This version
out, their Al Gore quote found him reminiscing about an old country song from
Nashville called Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places. For a long time,
lots of people bought the line that as the fossil fuel industry caused [the
climate crisis] they would solve it for us. But they are not going to solve it
for us. The global community has to organise a far
more effective way to run these Cops [than to host them in petrostates]. The UN
secretary general ought to have a role in who’s going to be host.”
And
they suggested a novel method of financing the giveaways to those most
afflicted by global warming... taxing crypto (as outlined in Attachments 25 and
28 above).
And then the
weekend dawned... and President-elect Trump tossed his own cookies into the
kitchen. He named oil-industry CEO Chris Wright as
energy secretary nominee... a perhaps even more corrupt and provocative choice
than that of accused pedophiles Matt Gaetz (DOJ).
Reuters (November 16, 2024 4:28 PM EST, Attachment Forty
Three) described Wright... the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, an
oilfield services firm based in Denver... as a “a staunch defender of fossil
fuel use” and, of course, a bootlicking loyalist.
Wright is known
for his 2019 “media splash” when he “drank fracking fluid on camera to demonstrate it was not
dangerous.”
The pioneer of the fracking industry and CEO of Liberty
Energy has said there is no climate crisis, nor an energy transition. (Sky News, yesterday. Attachment Forty Four)
Mr. Wright has also written that more fossil fuel energy is
needed around the world to lift people out of poverty.
It's true energy access transforms lives.
“And sadly it's also the case that
for many countries, wind and solar projects are currently more expensive
upfront than fossil fuel equivalents,” Sky News reported, though cheaper in the
long run. “Borrowing money is also more expensive for poor countries than for
rich countries, while enormous subsidies still flow to the fossil fuel
industry.
“This is why COP29 is trying
to set up a new fund to support clean energy and other climate measures in
developing countries.”
An enterprise precarious at present, and probably doomed by
next January.
The WashXaminer, after reporting on the reports issued by
critics, did admit... with help from the A.P... that the annual summit has
faced growing criticism for greenwashing, virtue signaling and propping up
the fossil fuel industry — prompting the question, is COP still able
to lead in global climate action?
Making a
Republican argument for reform or even cancallation
of future COPs, “It’s been a broken process since the beginning,” Frank Masiano, a senior principal at the Bracewell legal octopus,
told the Washington Examiner that: “It’s been a broken process
since the beginning. And, it’s led by
people who are generally unrealistic about the energy reality that most of the
globe faces.” (Attachment Forty Five)
Masiano clarified that’s not to say COP hasn’t been a good
“outlet.” However, the energy and environmental expert insisted the conference
has been misappropriated. He specifically criticized the emphasis put on
smaller emitting, developing countries, saying they have an “outsized
advantage” on the global stage COP presents.
In a
study published in late October by Transparency International and the
Anti-Corruption Data Collective, climate researchers warned that hosting COP29
in a country like Azerbaijan could put the summit at greater risk for
greenwashing and corruption. However, Brice Böhmer,
Climate and Environment Lead at Transparency International, told the Washington
Examiner it may now be beyond risks.
Specifically,
the report warns that COP negotiations are at risk of being influenced by
corporate interests — particularly those within the fossil fuel industry —
while also opening the door for corruption, personal enrichment or acting as a
forum for fossil fuel diplomacy - again citing, Azerbaijan president Ilham
Aliyev’s defense of the fossil fuel industry, calling oil and gas “a gift of
the God.”
Also
on Saturday, the Fox reported that some members of or sympathizers to the
Republican administration-in-waiting showed up at UN climate talks to tout natural gas and
nuclear energy, “but they tiptoed around the elephant in the room: a looming US
withdrawal from the Paris agreement.”
These pink,
not hard-red pachyderms like Morgan Griffith, a congressman from Ohio and
member of the House energy committee, told Americans for Prosperity (AFP) that
he has supported the Paris agreement in the past.
Asked if he
would back a withdrawal, he said: “We don’t want get in front of the president.
“It just
depends on, you know, what we deem is in the best interest of the United
States,” he added. (Attachment Forty Six)
Texas
Congressman August Pfluger, who led the House energy
committee delegation, said the US election had sent a clear signal.
“The people
in the United States overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump and his
promise to restore American energy dominance,” Pfluger
said at a news conference.
Democrats in
Congress will have a hard time blocking Trump’s nominees for energy and
environment posts as the minority party.
“A good deal
of it is out of our hands,” Sen. Sheldon (D-RI) Whitehouse said.
Washington’s
other conservative mouthpiece, the Moonie-sponsored Times, was even less
charitable to the pink elephants, pinko Commie
donkeys and blue state enviro-wackos.
“The green is gone,” opinionator Stephen Moore of the
Heritage Foundation celebrated on the 13th, the second day of COP
and a full week after the polling as President-elect Trump began filling out
his climate administrative team/
Sen. Bernie Sanders issued a dire warning to voters a few
days before last week’s election. If President-elect Donald Trump won, “the
struggle against climate change will be over.”
“He had that right,” Moore chortled. (Attachment Forty Seven)
Climate change fanaticism was effectively on the ballot last
week. The green energy agenda was decisively defeated.
“It turns out that the tens of millions of middle-class
Americans who voted for Mr. Trump weren’t much interested in the planet’s
temperature 50 years from now. They are busy trying to pay the bills...
“(I)f you ask the elite of
America, those in the top 1% of income, climate change is seen as an immediate
and existential threat to the planet... (c)limate
change has become the ultimate luxury good: The richer you are, the more you
fret about it.”
“The good news is that this year’s voter revolts against the
radical green agenda aren’t a vote for dirtier air or water. The air we breathe
and the water we drink are cleaner than ever — a point that Donald Trump made.
We will continue to make progress against pollution.”
But the nonsense of net-zero use of fossil fuels is a bridge
way too far, Moore scoffed.
“Americans recognize their shrinking paychecks, and the
higher price of gas is the real clear and present danger to their way of life.
If (surviving blue state) Democrats don’t start to get that, they, too, will go
to bed worrying about their jobs.”
Finally, the WashTimes
included its Peanut Gallery, equally glad that COP29 is failing and hopeful
that the whole movment will just go away.
“It’s all about controlling our energy consumption and
health care,” posted GI, “...once the government can dictate the use of those
two vital resources then we will be slaves to the government.”
“When the elites and rich in this nation give up their
private jets, yachts, fleets of luxury cars, 80 room mansions, and toys the
peasants can't afford - and stop jetting around the world to bask in the sun,”
BJ added, “I'll care about the myth of global climate change.”
And a decidedly incorrect PC posted that “The DemoKKKommie elites believe no belt tightening is too much
for the lower classes, while these same elites let their belts loosen at our
expense.
“F them.
“MAGA's will
be done!”
The 2025 COP 30 has tentatively been scheduled to take
place in the Amazonian city of Belem, Brazil – where there is also oil, but not
so much as to dominate the economy.
There is also a leftist President, Lula da Silva, who will be in office
until 2026 (but is also as old as Trump).
Our Lesson:
November Eleventh through Seventeenth, 2024 |
|
|
Monday, November 11, 2024 Dow: 44.293.13 |
It’s Veterans’ Day (Decoration Day in the U.K. where
King Charles and Princess Kate arise from their chemo to meet and greet the
public – Queen Camilla has an undisclosed illness). There are parades and ceremonies from New
York to Normandy, wreath layings at Arlington. Craigslist CEO Craig Newmark donates $125M
to “Stand Up for Heroes” charity benefit featuring Bruce Springsteen. Cop 29
begins in oily Azerbaijan under the shadow of Donald Trump, who quit the 2015
Paris Climate Accords and says he’ll do it again after President Joe
rejoined. Elon Musk, of the Tesla but
also well paid for climate incentives will square off against RFK Jr. whom
Trump has ordered to go mild on the oil bidness. Trump,
election over, avoids holiday memorials to hole up in Mar-a-Lago, choosing
his cabinet with loyalty esteemed over experience. Climate denialist Lee Zeldan
chosen to head the EPA, Little Marco Rubio to be SecState;
Rep Elise Stefanik (D-NY) gets to replace Nikki Hater as UN ambassador while
former ICE director Tom Homan returns as border czar to take charge of the
beautiful deporations, with MAGAnimal
Stephen Miller as Deputy Director of Policy. One escaped
mystery experimental monkey is captured Saturday and 23 more bagged on Sunday
leading lateniter Colbert to say he’s not an ape,
he’s a rat. |
|
Tuesday, November 12, 2024 Dow: 43,910.38 |
Final election results trickle in... Djonald UnStoppable winning
Arizona and Nevada to close with 86 vote margin, but GOP Senators lose there (and are screaming
“Steal!”). The appointments
role on with Mike Waltz (not Walz) to head the NSA while Jack Smith,
confronted with the law that sitting Presidents cannot be jailed for even the
most heinous of crimes, designs to resign rather than waiting to be fired. After the
massive Trump bump, Wall Street takes a breather. The big winners are Tech and crypto – up 30
percent in the week since the election.
Musk, as it turns out, makes over two hundred times more money from
the boom than he spent on the campaign and his million
dollar giveaways. Israel
fails to comply with Biden’s delay to improve humanitarian aid to
Palestinians as anti-Semetic riots spread from
Amsterdam to other Euro cities.
Netanyahu defiant and confident that Trump will continue military aid,
even as USA strikes Iranian surrogates in Syria, and pro-Trump Russia masses
troops (including mercenaries from NoKo) for more
attacks on Ukraine. Haitian gangsters
shoot up Spirit, American and Jet Blue planes arriving at the Port au Prince
airport, leading companies to stop all flights. D(isney)23 Expo in Brazil previews upcoming movies
including “Captain America” and a trailer is releaed
for the new Tom Cruise “Mission Impossible” 27? 83?
To be released 5/23/25, it’s subtitled “The Final Reckoning”. But is it?
“Venom” tops the box office again, Mattel
apologizes for the mislisted pornsite
address on “Wicked” toys. |
|
Wednesday, November 13, 2024 Dow:
44.097.37 |
More Trump appointments including a couple of
howlers (as monkey hunts continue).
Proud dog shooter and South Dakota Governor gets DHS and accused
pedophile Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl) tabbed for
Attorney General – promptly quitting Congress to stop their investigations
and destroy the evidence. Fox News hote Pete Hegseth who said
women should not serve in combat is appointed DefSec
but Papa Mike Huckabee’s new job as Ambassador to Israel earns a “meh?” while
even some Democrats describe CIA nominee John Ratfcliffe
as “a grownup”. Prepping
for his Presidency, The Donald returns to the White House to be briefed by
Biden (and reminded that this will be an orderly
transfer of power). The meeting ends
without unfortunate incidents, but Kamala is not present, nor is
Melania. The Ex, now Elect, says the
world is not a nice place but, today, it is. Also a winner... John Krasinski (of “The Office”) and also
Mister Emily Blunt is named People Magazine’s sexiest man alive for
2024/5. “Dancing with the Stars” celebrates
its 500th episode. Jersey
boys and girls hold a dolphin butchering and barbecue on the beach, while a
man dressed up as a bear is caught attacking cars to perpetrate insurance
fraud (a response to or inspiration for “Three Inch Teeth”, the latest novel
by C. J. Box). |
|
Thursday, November 14, 2024 Dow:
43,750.86 |
Honeymoon over, Dems denounce the latest of an
increasingly outliar-isn series of appointments... Gaetz and Kristi joined by Dem-turned-Maga Tulsi Gabbert (head of Intelligence) and crotch of HHS,
RFK junior. Wondering minds wonder
what the world has in store for MTG?
Or Steve Bannon, or Alex Jones (who needs a job after InfoWars is auctioned off to “The Onion” to pay slandered
Sandy Hook victims. There are a
few sane selections and elections too.
John Thune (R-SD) is chosen to be the new Senate Majority leader and
Tom Blanche, one of Trump’s lawyers, rewarded with the Deputy DOJ
position. It’s corrupt but... hey!...
it could have been Rudy G.! Trump
admits Gaetz has issues, saying: “Yes, he’s
controversial, but that’s OK with me,” Not OK: Speaker Mike warns Djonald UnCareful to stop
“poaching” Congressthings, lest a few insurgent
elephants join with the asses to obstruct MAGAlly
legislation. Trump also
appoints Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to run a Department of Government Effiency (an agency that does not yet exist), Musk says the
nebulous new job gives him “a mandate to delete” bureaus and bureaucrats that
he, or his master dislike. |
|
Friday, November 15, 2024 Dow:
43,444.99 |
It’s National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day.
President/President-Elect Trump appoints another former foe and cold
customer... Doug Burgum to Secretary of the Interior. Burgum, at least, is not as controversial
as some others... even GOP Senators are starting to express concern about Gaetz, Pete Hegseth (another
accused rapist), JFK Junior, Gabbard (too close to Russia), Dr. Oz… too
weird. Weatherpeople say that the drought is making New York “look
more like California” with wildfires and with Christmas trees dying all over
the northeast. Ranchers say the
current crop is OK, but the young trees dying off augur a shortage within 5
to 10 years. The
Pentagon says that 21 UFO sightings out of 757 within the last year cannot be
explained – conspiracy theory and ET buffs say they told us so. Domestically, NASA says that the ISS is
leaking oxygen, but not fatally. Yet. |
|
Saturday, November 16, 2024 Dow: Closed |
In addition to a multiplicity of near crashes and
fires in the skies and on the ground, cell phone explosion sets cabin afire
at the Denver Airport, while hateful active shooters spray jet with bullets
at Love Field, Dallas.
Cyberhackers... presumably the same ones that sent texts to blacks
telling them to report for cotton-pickin’ duty are
now sending messages to migrants, telling them to gather at streetcorners where INS vans will pick them up and deport
them back out of America as trial begins for the most notorious... Venezualan alien Jose Ybarra, accused of killing jogger
Laken Riley in Georgia. Another
pervert (nationality unknown) attempts to kidnap a 13 year
old gtting off a school bus in Florida, but
she fights him off and escapes. Polls say
that 56% of Americans want all migrants deported – criminals or not. Statisticians say that of the 11 – 13
million crossing the border of late, about 600,000 are criminals. They have a strange ally, tho’ – farmers and agribusiness who say that without
cheap, foreign labor, crops will go unpicked, shortages and maybe even famine
will occur. |
|
Sunday, November 17, 2024 Dow: Closed |
MAGA celebrates Trump’s latest cabinet picks, oil
executive frackin’ Chris Wright as Energy Secretary
(see above) and three of his criminal attorneys as DOJ department heads. Sunday talkster
Preet Bharara says he’s another “bomb throwing” appointee with no government
experience, but MAGA echoes Gaetz who says that all
gumment workers are agents of the Deep State and he
will fire them wherever he finds them. Macy’s
closing 150 more stores, but will put on the Thanksgiving Parade and light
Christmas trees... altho’ probably for the last
time. “It would be such a loss,” says
a shopper. On the
Sunday talkshows, ABC pits Rep. Tony Gonzalez
(R-Tx) who says that migrant criminals are using the farmworkers and children
as human shields and America should be for Americans only, per Gaetz, against the libtards. Round tabler
Reince Priebus, back from partying at Mar-a-Lago says that Trump’s first term
failed because of disloyal underlings – Anstead Herndon from the New York
Times implies that the Ex appointed Gaetz and RFK
Junior so they would be rejected,
bolstering his image as a martyr. CBS “Face
the Nation” guest Rep. Frank Hill (R-Ar) says that
because Trump had a mandate from the voters, including Congress, the courts
and God, he can appoint anybody he wants to anything. Rep. Jim Himes (D-Ct) replies that his
choices have been “manifestly unqualified.”
But with more to come... what about MTG? Steve Bannon? Rudy
G. (poor guy needs the money)? -
DJI |
|
Elections over, the exhausted Joneses of America...
winners and losers alike... trudged back to their day jobs, only occasionally
marveling at the breadth and depth of MAGAmania to come
with Dr. Donald’s cabinet of curiosities.
Revenge and retribution – these had their say and will have their play
over the next four years, but the determining dominion (barring one of those
nuisance wars going nuclear) will be: The Show! |
|
CHART of
CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000 (REFLECTING…
approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013) Gains in indices as improved are noted in GREEN. Negative/harmful
indices in RED as are their designation. (Note – some of the indices where the total
went up created a realm where their value went down... and vice versa.) See a
further explanation of categories here… |
ECONOMIC INDICES |
(60%) |
|
||||||||
CATEGORY |
VALUE |
BASE |
RESULTS by PERCENTAGE |
SCORE |
OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS |
|
||||
INCOME |
(24%) |
6/17/13
revised 1/1/22 |
LAST |
CHANGE |
NEXT |
LAST
WEEK |
THIS
WEEK |
THE
WEEK’S CLOSING STATS... |
|
|
Wages
(hrly. Per cap) |
9% |
1350
points |
10/21/24 |
+0.49% |
12/24 |
1,537.40 |
1,545.00 |
|
||
Median
Inc. (yearly) |
4% |
600 |
11/11/24 |
+0.028% |
11/25/24 |
675.61 |
675.80 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
39,804 |
|
|
Unempl. (BLS – in mi) |
4% |
600 |
9/24 |
-2.44% |
11/24 |
556.38 |
556.38 |
|
||
Official (DC – in mi) |
2% |
300 |
11/11/24 |
-0.14% |
11/25/24 |
234.01 |
233.67 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
6,900 |
|
|
Unofficl. (DC – in mi) |
2% |
300 |
11/11/24 |
-0.24% |
11/25/24 |
256.14 |
255.53 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 12,529 |
|
|
Workforce
Participation Number Percent |
2% |
300 |
11/11/24 |
+0.0-37% +0.0054%
|
11/25/24 |
300.34 |
300.33 |
In
161,908 Out 100,499
Total: 262,407 61.70109 |
|
|
WP
% (ycharts)* |
1% |
150 |
11/11/24 |
-0.16% |
12/24 |
151.19 |
151.19 |
https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 62.60 |
|
|
OUTGO |
(15%) |