- Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE's minister of industry and advanced technology as well as the president of the COP28 summit, is making absurd statements to the effect that there is "no science" behind the almost universal scientific consensus that a phaseout of fossil fuels is necessary to keep climate change below the 1.5 °C limit. This is obviously not a good thing, nor is the fact that emissions from the US, China, and India keep rising and many scientists now think exceeding that particular limit is almost inevitable. But maybe there's some vaguely goodish news buried in there; the very fact that fossil fuel interests are bothering to get involved in the summit could be viewed as a sign that they're running scared. So even if we don't keep to 1.5 °C, maybe we'll keep to 2 °C. That will still mean a hell of a lot of human misery and devastation of the natural world, but a lot less than if we don't. Can't look at these things in all-or-nothing terms, otherwise the natural response is just to give up.
- In terms of policy moves, one thing that has come up is the idea of a "carbon passport", which could for instance limit the number of flights a citizen could take. No doubt the freedumb crowd would be up in arms at such a move, much as they already are about any token effort to encourage people to eat less meat, but at a certain point you just have to push the dinosaurs to the side and move ahead.
- Several dozen people protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday against the resumption of fighting in Gaza. And I don't doubt that for every person who had the courage to attend the protest, there were several more who sympathized but didn't want to be seen in public taking that position. Nonetheless, I suspect that they were still greatly outnumbered by the people who bought the new hit single "Charbu Darbu" by Israeli rap duo Ness Ve Stilla, which is topping the charts in that country and is all about raining hell upon the enemy. According to translations that may be found here, the song also calls for the deaths of celebrities who have criticized Israel's response. I imagine being an Israeli who cares about peace and justice is a very, very lonely place to be right now.
- In swing states in the US, Muslim Americans are launching an anti-Biden campaign. This is understandable given Biden's slavish support of Israel at all costs, but short-sighted given that a second Trump presidency will almost certainly be worse for the actual conditions on the ground for Muslims in the US and elsewhere. It's called "cutting off your nose to spite your face", I believe.
- Ukraine is accusing Russia of executing captured Ukrainian soldiers, something that all except the most pro-Putin among us would consider to be a war crime.
- Hot on the heels of the shootings of five homeless people in Las Vegas, we have the story of someone who was doing the same thing in LA.
- New Zealand's new government is scrapping the groundbreaking legislation introduced by the previous government regarding tobacco (which among other things meant that anyone born after 2008 would never be permitted to purchase it), saying that this is necessary to fund the tax cuts that they've promised. Presumably this is because falling tobacco sales would mean less revenue that would have to be made up in other taxes; notably, though, the junior partners in the coalition were particularly insistent that the law be repealed (because freedumb, you know).
- A man in Waterloo has been charged with stealing a kitten from a store. The kitten's whereabouts are unknown.
- The automakers, and their dealerships, make a lot of their money on financing. Given that there's no shortage of buyers, many dealerships will cancel a sale rather than accept payment in full for the vehicle.
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