Gore’s attitude toward Climate Change Conference gets cooler

NEWS AND OPINION:

Former Vice President Al Gore is not happy with the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties — that’s COP28 for short. The massive event in Dubai came to a close on Tuesday, leaving Mr. Gore concerned over the global climate deal that emerged but did not call for phasing out the use of fossil fuels.

“COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure,” Mr. Gore said in a tweet.

“The world desperately needs to phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible, but this obsequious draft reads as if OPEC dictated it word for word. It is even worse than many had feared. It is ‘Of the Petrostates, By the Petrostates and For the Petrostates.’ It is deeply offensive to all who have taken this process seriously,” Mr. Gore said.

“In order to prevent COP28 from being the most embarrassing and dismal failure in 28 years of international climate negotiations, the final text must include clear language on phasing out fossil fuels. Anything else is a massive step backwards from where the world needs to be to truly address the climate crisis,” he added later.

THE SPEAKER SPEAKS

House Speaker Mike Johnson hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, stating in remarks after the meeting that a “clear articulation of the strategy to allow Ukraine to win” is paramount.

The Louisiana Republican also had something to say about U.S. national security.

“I have also made very clear that our first condition on any national security supplemental spending package is about our own national security first. The border is an absolute catastrophe, and this is because of the policies of this White House and this administration. We had 12,000 illegal crossings on one day last week alone, on Wednesday. We have almost 280 known terrorists that have been apprehended at the border and none of this counts the ‘gotaways.’ If you add the numbers up, it’s almost 7 million people who have been encountered at the border just since President Biden took office and at least 2 million ‘gotaways.’ This is twice the population of my state of Louisiana,” Mr. Johnson said.

He also cited “other terrible things” resulting from conditions at the border, such as human trafficking and the rising death toll among Americans due to fentanyl use.

“In the last three months — October, November, and December alone — we’ve had more illegal crossings at the border than in any entire year during the Obama administration. The American people see this. They feel it acutely. They see all the terrible societal ills that come from this, and it must be addressed. I’ve made this very clear,” the speaker said.

NOW THERE’S A THOUGHT

“As President Biden and Senate Democrats continue to hold border security legislation hostage, it’s worth remembering that House Republicans passed H.R. 2 — the Secure the Border Act — 216 days ago,” said Tommy Pigott, director of strategic communications for the Republican National Committee.

Nightmarish activities on the border continue, however. He cites many of the same dangers that trouble that the aforementioned House Speaker Mike Johnson did.

“Securing the border should not require some grand deal — it is a fundamental duty of the federal government. But here we are, and even still Democrats block common sense solutions which have been on the table for 216 days. What will it take for Democrats to do their jobs?” Mr. Pigott asked in a written statement to Inside the Beltway.

“Here’s the point: Who could see the death, destruction, and devastation at the border and insist on not only doing nothing, but making the problem worse? Apparently, Democrats in Congress. Shameful,” he concluded.

FOXIFIED

In the week of Dec. 4-10, Fox News was the most-watched network in the entire cable realm, according to Nielsen Media Research. Fox News earned a daily average of 1.8 million prime-time viewers, compared with MSNBC with 1.2 million and CNN with 471,000. Fox News also aired 75 of the top 100 cable newscasts last week.

“The Five” was the most-watched program for the week with 2.8 million average daily viewers, followed by “Jesse Watters Primetime” (2.5 million) and “Hannity” (2.3 million),

Late-night kingpin Greg Gutfeld enjoyed an average audience of 1.9 million, topping ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (1.6 million) and NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (1.3 million).  

FROM THE DAIRY DIARY

Should American kids have whole milk included in their school lunches? It’s complicated.

The “Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2023” — which was introduced in February by Reps. Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania Republican, and Kim Schrier, Washington Democrat — could come up for a vote in the House as early as Wednesday, according to the American Dairy Coalition, an industry organization.

“This bill revises requirements for milk provided by the National School Lunch Program of the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Currently, schools participating in the program must provide milk that is consistent with the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans; USDA regulations require milk to be fat-free or low-fat and allow milk to be flavored or unflavored. The bill modifies these restrictions and instead permits schools to offer students whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free flavored and unflavored milk,” according to a legislative summary.

“Schools currently participating in the program must provide meals that meet certain nutrition requirements; USDA regulations require that the average saturated fat content of the meals offered must be less than 10% of the total calories. Under the bill, USDA must revise these requirements to increase the allowable average saturated fat content of a meal to account for milk fat included in whole milk,” the summary said.

POLL DU JOUR

• 16% of U.S. adults are “extremely concerned” that the war between Israel and Hamas will expand to other countries in the region.

• 26% are “very concerned” about this possibility.

• 37% of U.S. adults are “somewhat concerned.”

• 14% are “not too concerned.”

• 6% are “not at all concerned.”

SOURCE: A Pew Research Center American Trends Panel poll of 5,203 U.S. adults conducted Nov. 27-Dec. 3.

• Follow Jennifer Harper on X @HarperBulletin, on Facebook @Harperuniverse.