NEWS AND OPINION:
Former Vice President Al Gore shouldn’t be proud of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties — that’s COP28 for brief. The huge occasion in Dubai got here to an in depth on Tuesday, leaving Mr. Gore involved over the worldwide local weather deal that emerged however didn’t name to section out the usage of fossil fuels.
“COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure,” Mr. Gore stated 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 suggested.
“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 later added.
THE SPEAKER SPEAKS
House Speaker Mike Johnson hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy within the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, noting in remarks after the assembly {that a} “clear articulation of the strategy to allow Ukraine to win” is paramount.
The Louisiana Republican additionally had one thing to say about U.S. safety.
“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 stated.
He additionally cited “other terrible things” ensuing from the border chaos, corresponding to human trafficking and the rising demise toll amongst Americans on account of 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 stated.
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,” factors out Tommy Pigott, director of strategic communications for the Republican National Committee.
Nightmarish actions on the border proceed, nevertheless. He cites lots of the identical risks that bother 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 requested in a written assertion 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
During the week of Dec. 4-10, Fox News was the most-watched community in the complete cable realm, based on Nielsen Media Research. Fox News earned a day by day common of 1.8 million primetime viewers, in comparison with MSNBC with 1.2 million and CNN with 471,000. Fox News additionally aired 75 of the highest 100 cable newscasts through the week.
“The Five” was the most-watched program for the week with 2.8 million common day by day viewers, adopted by “Jesse Watters Primetime” (2.5 million) and “Hannity” (2.3 million),
Clever late-night kingpin Greg Gutfeld loved a mean nightly viewers of 1.9 million, topping ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (1.6 million) and NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” (1.3 million).
FROM THE DAIRY DIARY
Should American youngsters have complete milk included of their faculty lunches? It’s sophisticated.
The “Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2023” — which was launched in February by Reps. Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania Republican, and Kim Schrier, Washington Democrat — may come up for a vote within the House as early as Wednesday, based on the American Dairy Coalition, an trade group.
“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,” notes a legislative abstract.
“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 abstract famous.
POLL DU JOUR
• 16% of U.S. adults are “extremely concerned” that the struggle between Israel and Hamas will increase to different nations within the area.
• 26% are “very concerned” about this chance.
• 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 ballot of 5,203 U.S. adults performed Nov. 27-Dec. 3.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on X @HarperBulletin, on Facebook @Harperuniverse.
