GLOBAL WARMING

Yes, again, global warming.  But first, that stunning decision by the Colorado Supreme Court for Donald Trump to be removed from the state presidential primary ballot on 5 March 2024. My thoughts:

• 
  The Supreme Court will either quickly reverse or find a way to delay Colorado's decision, not particularly because they're supporters of Donald Trump, but for constitutionality and timing reasons.
• Democrats are saying, sure, about time, for he's a bad dude.
• Behind the scenes, they are saying, oh no, our ticket to a landslide on November 5, 2024 has vanished.  There is no finer candidate that day for Democrats, as all the trials and tribulations of Trump will convince 5-10% of Republicans to not show up on election day, plus perhaps 5% of independents too, hurting Republican congressional and state candidates.  If Haley or DeSantis runs, that will not happen.
• 
  Here is how a few Republicans responded to that decision:

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  Nikki Haley:  “I will tell you that I don’t think Donald Trump needs to be President. I think I need to be President. I think that’s good for the country … But I will beat him fair and square. We don’t need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions.”

• 
  Ron DeSantis:  “The Left invokes ‘democracy’ to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds. SCOTUS should reverse.”

• 
  Chris Christie:   “I can’t comment on the opinion itself, because I want to read it first. But what I will say is this: I do not think Donald Trump should be prevented from being President of the United States by any court. I think he should be prevented from being President of the United States by the voters of this country.”

• 
  Rudy Giuliani:  “The decision by the Colorado Supreme Court is a direct attack on Democracy. These Democrat Party judges are further destroying the public’s faith in our judicial system. The Supreme Court must quickly act, as this would be disastrous for America.”

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  Alex Jones:  “Ladies and gentlemen, the Democratic Party just stole the 2024 election long before the polls opened. … This is criminal activity in front of everyone. This is the oligarchy that’s hijacked our country setting up a totalitarian dictatorship in our face. … This is open election meddling.”

• 
  Elon Musk:   “These actions will have the opposite effect of what was intended,” he said, and: “History will judge this poorly.”

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  House Speaker Mike Johnson:  “Today’s ruling attempting to disqualify President Trump from the Colorado ballot is nothing but a thinly veiled partisan attack. Regardless of political affiliation, every citizen registered to vote should not be denied the right to support our former president and the individual who is the leader in every poll of the Republican primary. We trust the U.S. Supreme Court will set aside this reckless decision and let the American people decide the next President of the United States.”
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  Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado:  “This is extreme judicial activism that is designed to suppress the vote and voices of hundreds of thousands of Coloradans, which is absolutely unacceptable. I am confident the U.S. Supreme Court will remedy this horrible decision so Coloradans will have the right to cast their ballot for our 45th and 47th President, Donald J. Trump. We will fight this every step of the way!”

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  Rep. Matt Gaetz:  “Democrats are trying to imprison their chief political opponent and have now apparently succeeded at removing him from the ballot. This is what dictators do. I’m confident that the U.S. Supreme Court will not allow this egregious ruling to stand. The American people will decide their next president, not activist judges in Colorado.”

Now on to the matter of global warming.

2023 declared hottest year on record as UN slams climate inaction 

Key highlights from COP28, the UN Climate Summit in Dubai, by Al Jazeera:

• 85,999 participants from 200 nations.
• The conference started on a positive note with the approval of a climate disaster “loss and damage fund” that was first tabled at COP27 in Egypt last year.
• Several countries have pledged a total of $700m, which falls far short of the estimated $400bn damage caused by climate change each year. In September, a group of developing countries had asked for at least $100bn to be committed to the fund.
• The UAE pledged $100m, which was matched by Germany. Italy and France promised more than $108m, while the United Kingdom pledged $50.8m. The United States and China, despite being the world’s largest emitters, extended only $17.5m and $10m, respectively.
• Protests on the sidelines: Although the UAE prohibits demonstrations, several groups held protests on the sidelines over issues including the Israel-Gaza war and the holding of political prisoners in the UAE. In September, COP’s presidency agreed to allow “climate activists to assemble peacefully” at the summit.
• The final text was able to secure a majority consensus within the 200 attending countries to include language to “transition away” from fossil fuels, which are responsible for nearly 90 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to the UN.

Don't expect much from COP29 next year, for the host is Azerbaijan, another fossil fuel country, plus, it is aligned with Russia.

From Whatcom Watch by Ray Kamada:

This might be a bit too complex for most of my readers, but those who want to learn more, READ.

Finally, the regular contribution by James Hansen, Makiko Sato and Reto Ruedy:  Global Warming Acceleration--El Nino Measuring Stick Looks Good.  They start with:

Global warming is accelerating because the drive for warming, Earth’s energy imbalance, has doubled in the past decade. Measurement of the acceleration is hampered by unforced tropical (El Nino/La Nina) variability, but a good measuring stick is provided by warming between successive large El Ninos. Strengthening of the current (2023-24) El Nino has raised it to a level similar to the 1997-98 and 2015-16 El Ninos. The first six months of the current El Nino are 0.39°C warmer than the same six months of the 2015-16 El Nino, a global warming rate of 0.49°C/decade, consistent with expectation of a large acceleration of global warming. We expect the 12-month mean temperature by May 2024 to eliminate any doubt about global warming acceleration. Subsequent decline of the 12-month temperature below 1.5°C will likely be limited, confirming that the 1.5°C limit has already been passed. 

You can read the entire article HERE.

Note the piddling amount the U.S. contributed at COP28.  Our country is mired in politics.  Republican (mostly because they represent big business) keep global warming at a low priority.  Democrats (supported by "normal" people) treat the subject with a lot more seriousness.  Pew poll:

You would think that there are a lot more normal people than rich ones.  Further, surely more people favor protecting our environment than not.  There should thus be more Democrats voted into office than not.  Somehow, this form of simplistic thinking leads nowhere.  A dozen years ago I wrote in the Huffington Post:

Why Do Republicans Like Fossil Fuels and 

Not Care That Much for the Environment?

The issues were different, but the sentiments remain. The environment became less important in the 2022 election, as you can see below.  

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