President Donald Trump

[baldgriff]

fwiw (to be accurate), the Green Climate Fund contributions, which you are referencing, are actually independent of the Paris climate accord; the amounts each country contributes are completely voluntary and set by each country themselves; in addition to withdrawing from the Paris accord Trump also announced that the US will stop contributing to this fund.

The article states that counties "voluntarily pledged $10.3 billion since 2013" - the US pledged $3 billion....

New article: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/c...te-accord.html
Dated May 31, 2017

What does the Paris climate deal actually do?

Under the Paris agreement, every country submitted an individual plan to tackle its greenhouse gas emissions and then agreed to meet regularly to review their progress and prod one another to ratchet up their efforts as the years went by.

Unlike its predecessor treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris deal was intended to be nonbinding, so that countries could tailor their climate plans to their domestic situations and alter them as circumstances changed. There are no penalties for falling short of declared targets. The hope was that, through peer pressure and diplomacy, these policies would be strengthened over time.

Under the deal, the Obama administration pledged to cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 as well as to commit up to $3 billion in aid for poorer countries by 2020. (The United States has delivered $1 billion to date.)

Seems that our commitment was issued under as part of our response to the accord. It wasnt required, it was voluntary. It was also 2 times more than Japan. Also it was $3billion more than China, Russia and India have donated to date.

Gotta love these non-binding agreements.

[Redbirds Fan]

which page is this on?

You need to read the whole paper. That's where the 'context' part comes in.

[cardboardbox]

You need to read the whole paper. That's where the 'context' part comes in.

so you claim this:

The paper does indeed say that warming can be reduced by 1 degree Celsius.

but you won't say where I can find that? I simply dont have time to read the whole thing...

[baldgriff]

Dude -
You are the one who sourced the document as a part of your argument. It would behoove you to read it, in case there is something else there that counters what your are maintaining. I would suggest you are on the hook to find it - not the one you are challenging (specifically because he states he read it, which may put him a step a head with the judges)

[Bernie Brewer]

Dude -
You are the one who sourced the document as a part of your argument. It would behoove you to read it, in case there is something else there that counters what your are maintaining. I would suggest you are on the hook to find it - not the one you are challenging (specifically because he states he read it, which may put him a step a head with the judges)

Oh shit, now there are actual Judges reading our threads (besides that Lucky fellow and Judge Judy dude? Will we be graded? And, if so, will the grading be done on a curve? Do I have to be a liberal with TDS to get a good grade or can a reasonable moderate/recovering conservative still pass? Was this class taught by a left leaning faculty member? If I was glad Hillary lost, but not necessarily happy that the lesser of two evils won, does that count as extra credit?

[Hornsby]

Another high Intelligence Official was asked by Trump to intervene with Comey to sidetrack the Russia investigation by the FBI. And Dan Coates was Trump's pick as Director of National Intelligence.

The nation’s top intelligence official told associates in March that President Trump asked him if he could intervene with then-FBI Director James B. Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials.

On March 22, less than a week after being confirmed by the Senate, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats attended a briefing at the White House together with officials from several government agencies. As the briefing was wrapping up, Trump asked everyone to leave the room except for Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

The president then started complaining about the FBI investigation and Comey’s handling of it, said officials familiar with the account Coats gave to associates. Two days earlier, Comey had confirmed in a congressional hearing that the bureau was probing whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 race.

After the encounter, Coats discussed the conversation with other officials and decided that intervening with Comey as Trump had suggested would be inappropriate, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-intelligence-official-told-associates-trump-asked-him-if-he-could-intervene-with-comey-to-get-fbi-to-back-off-flynn/2017/06/06/cc879f14-4ace-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html?sw_bypass=true&utm_term=.bd86f8bd54fc&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%252Bnation&wpmk=1

[heyelander]

Another high Intelligence Official was asked by Trump to intervene with Comey to sidetrack the Russia investigation by the FBI. And Dan Coates was Trump's pick as Director of National Intelligence.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...Bnation&wpmk=1

Trump was elected because he was a businessman, and I'm pretty sure this is how business gets done. I am constantly shocked that anyone on the left acts like any of this is going to be cared about by his constituency.

[Redbirds Fan]

Trump was elected because he was a businessman, and I'm pretty sure this is how business gets done. I am constantly shocked that anyone on the left acts like any of this is going to be cared about by his constituency.

I think it is rapidly becoming irrelevant whether Trump's constituency cares about any of this.

But, out of curiousity, does anyone think Trump is getting any business done? This is the time in a presidency when legislation gets passed. Best I can tell, the Trump administration has zero significant legislation passed, and the chances of health care or tax 'reform' are slim or none. His executive orders have been, for the most part, expressions of intent rather than substance.

Now it turns out that the $380 billion dollars in business deals which were supposedly signed in Saudi were smoke and mirrors. The WH has only come up with specifics on $85 billion in actual deals, mostly arms deals, and substantial amounts of those were sales approved by the Obama administration. The hyperbole for which Trump was famous in his business life has certainly carried over to public life.

One of his friends has said of Trump that he would lie about what time it is, just for practice. Given the things about which he has misled us so far, can we hope he will be straight with us when the chips are down?

[heyelander]

But, out of curiousity, does anyone think Trump is getting any business done? This is the time in a presidency when legislation gets passed. Best I can tell, the Trump administration has zero significant legislation passed, and the chances of health care or tax 'reform' are slim or none. His executive orders have been, for the most part, expressions of intent rather than substance.

The fact that he hasn't gotten anything done is just another example of how DC is broken and more proof that we need Trump there, rather than politics as usual.

[revo]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...mate-fund.html

How much have rich countries pledged?

Industrialized countries have voluntarily pledged $10.3 billion since 2013 to help poorer nations reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the effects of climate change. The United States has pledged by far the most — $3 billion, twice that of the second-largest pledger, Japan.

Edit to add:
Large countries that have not donated include: China, Russia and India

Yeah, but this just says the US is donating to the fund, not loaning money to other nations to fund their contribution, like I think you implied.

[revo]

The fact that he hasn't gotten anything done is just another example of how DC is broken and more proof that we need Trump there, rather than politics as usual.

Well, not really. Political parties or not, there's always going to be right-leaning folks and left-leaning folks. And if anyone is going to attempt to push through an agenda that is largely one-sided, you're going to get significant pushback. Trump has never faced pushback at anytime in his life. He's a get it done guy because he was the boss of a company where everyone was his employee. But hey, these aren't your employees! You have to give a fair deal every so often! Not sure he ever realized how difficult it might be to get a highly partisan agenda passed, but he's finding that out now!

[baldgriff]

regarding Paris, if I understand correctly the US is going to provide billions to other countries to assist them in meeting their targets. There are no penalties for not attaining said targets and there is actually no way to guarantee the funds we are sending to other countries will actually be used for the purpose intended. I respect that we want to be "the leader", but when there is no way to ensure the proper usage of the funds and that there are not enforceable penalties, it seems like throwing money down the shitter.

Revo -
this is my original post regarding the money going to other countries....

I stated pretty clearly that the US is going to provide billions to other countries, not loan it. My concern about giving the potential $3billion away is that we have no way to guarantee how the funds are spent. Additionally, as stated in the article I posted later, there are no actual penalties for not reaching your goals.

I closed by saying this seems like throwing money down the shitter......... If you gave $100,000 to someone to do treatment with no guarantee on how it would be spent or way to hold the other party accountable to actually spending the money as intended - and not have the money repaid - well that seems like a risky proposition at best and potentially throwing money down the shitter. I expect my government to be better stewards of the money that they take from me....

[cardboardbox]

You need to read the whole paper. That's where the 'context' part comes in.

Since you read the whole thing surely you can tell me where to find this:

The paper does indeed say that warming can be reduced by 1 degree Celsius.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Since you read the whole thing surely you can tell me where to find this:

Since you'll ignore it, why should he. Just keep on drilling in your backyard and hope the floodwaters don;t drown your grandchildren.

[Hornsby]

Trump was elected because he was a businessman, and I'm pretty sure this is how business gets done. I am constantly shocked that anyone on the left acts like any of this is going to be cared about by his constituency.

It is cared about by his voters...his approval rating is steadily dropping, and he's unlikely to get those voters back. His constituency amounts to about 20% of the eligible voters, not nearly enough to move the needle on just about any of his agenda items, which is why the only thing that he's been able to do is my XO, or implicit Presidential powers.

I would also disagree that the system is broken...the system is exactly what's keeping Trump and company from running roughshod with their program. The many cogs in the machine continue to do their jobs, despite all of the threats from above. Even his Cabinet is saying "no" more often that I would have ever imagined.

Do we deserve better politicians? I would hope so, but some would argue that we're getting exactly what we deserve for being lazy and uninformed voters. Getting better politicians is on all of us, we can't expect someone else to do all of the work, it's just not feasible.