- The scientific community is roundly condemning the final agreement at COP28, and some say the structure of these summits is set up to fail thanks to the requirement for consensus rather than just majority vote, as well as the fact that the summits are crawling with fossil fuel lobbyists. And to make matters worse, rightwing politicians' attempts to get the bleating masses to blame carbon taxes for inflation are succeeding.
- In Germany, the government has had to revise their budget after their plans to transfer €60 billion from a fund created to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic into a "climate and transformation fund" were declared to be unconstitutional by the country's top court. Apparently Germany has strict rules limiting government borrowing except in case of emergency, and debt taken on to deal with COVID thus cannot be reallocated to other purposes (even though many of us would consider the climate crisis to be an emergency).
- The Colorado River system continues to get drier and drier, and agriculture is the main culprit. Worse, the main crops that are being grown with this water are hay and alfalfa for cattle feed. Reducing beef consumption would thus be hugely beneficial to the river and the whole American southwest, but getting people to do that, or even not to hate you for suggesting that they do that, is very difficult.
- The far right is gaining ground in some European countries. Whether they can sweep the subcontinent remains to be seen, but there are some worrying signs, notably the shortsighted willingness of many centre-right parties to cooperate with the far right. And if Trump wins in the US, all bets are off elsewhere.
- There are some promising signs that the American economy may have a soft landing after all, in which inflation stabilizes without sending the country into recession. Even if this happens, though, the question of whether the voting public is smart enough to recognize that it has happened is still up in the air, and this could have big implications next fall.
- A man started a small fire in the courthouse where Trump's civil fraud trial is being heard, and 17 people suffered minor injuries. A suspect has been arrested but the motive remains to be determined.
- The US House of Representatives is moving ahead with an impeachment inquiry for Joe Biden.
- Apple's total value has hit $3.1 trillion. For comparison, the total value of all the companies traded on France's stock exchange, the largest in the EU, is $3.2 trillion.
- The co-founder of a San Francisco-based tech company has been accused in a lawsuit of forcing his former executive assistant to sign a "slave contract" and sexually trafficking her, resulting in her being subjected to horrific abuses. This does not help to improve the image of "techbros".
- The Ontario government is abandoning plans to dissolve Peel Region. Apparently the fiscal consequences would have been too extreme even for Doug Ford and his cronies.
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