Trump willing to sign revised Paris climate deal

Photo: AP file

President Trump said on Sunday that he would be willing to sign the Paris climate accord if the treaty undergoes major changes.

The President met with global condemnation last June when he said the United States was pulling out of the Paris climate accord. He called it a "bad deal" for our nation's economy and even said 'very, very bad deal' at one point. 

Mr. Trump supposedly remains firm in his criticism of the Paris accord, possibly because it was signed by former President Barack Hussein Obama, a man believed to be born in Kenya, according to President Trump's previous statements. But whether Obama was or was not born in Kenya, as president, he acted as if he disliked the United States of America.

"The Paris accord, for us, would have been a disaster," Trump told Britain's ITV channel in a Sunday interview.

"If they made a good deal . . . there's always a chance we'd get back," he said mostly in monosyllables, and described the current agreement as "terrible" and "unfair" to the US.

But let's face it, even having the United Nations in the United States is unfair to the US. The unpaid parking fines alone, accrued by UN diplomats could run a small country. What we pay annually to the UN is far more than any other country, big or small.

The treaty was agreed upon by 197 nations in 2015 after tough negotiations in Paris. All countries pledged to make carbon-cutting moves running into 2030. In the meanwhile, countries can still pollute as they make industrial advances while the US and other nations have already cut back on carbon emissions. 

"If somebody said, go back into the Paris accord, it would have to be a completely different deal because we had a horrible deal," Trump repeated.

"Would I go back in? Yeah, I'd go back in . . . I would love to."

In early January President Trump said the US could "conceivably" return to the deal under more favorable terms, raising the question as to whether he was bluffing about pulling out of the Paris deal in the first place in order to acquire more lax emission targets.

California, on the other hand, is making it a finable offense for a waitperson to hand out plastic straws to customers unless they ask for one. 

Those straws are killing the planet along with fast food sandwiches, and President Trump is one of the biggest perpetrators of Big Mac pollution.


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Pope's latest advice may indicate a drug problem

Back in the 60s and 70s dudes in tie-dyed shirts were "tripping out" and saying crazy stuff like, "Hey maaaan, listen to the sound of yellow when it collides with magenta, man. Like wow." They drove Volkswagen Beetles or VW minivans, all of them painted with rainbows and flower stickers with bumper stickers that said stuff like: "I brake for hallucinations."

We've come such a long way that it seems even Pope Francis has gotten into the act. 

Aside from socialism and its 'fair share' garbage thinking, the pope believes in climate change, Al Gore's honesty and weight-loss program, and he believes that he can hear the Earth cry. 

What's he smoking?

On Wednesday Pope Francis called upon world leaders to "listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, who suffer most because of the unbalanced ecology."

In truth, the poor suffer mostly because of situations like one-parent families, pregnancy before marriage, a welfare system that encourages stagnation, lack of accountability for our teachers due to unions protecting them, a global sense of entitlement, and blaming others for their situations. And these are just starters.

In other words, the poor are poor because of the bad decisions they have made. If that wasn't the case, there would be no success stories coming out of the ghettos.

The pope and Patriarch Bartholomew I, head of the Orthodox Christian Church, will issue a joint statement to commemorate "World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation," on Friday. 

People all over the world will pray for the Earth to heal--millions upon millions of hands will be folded in prayer. But two hands actually working can get more done than a hundred hands praying.

It isn't that praying in itself is a wasteful endeavor; it's that along with prayer must come action. In fact, action should come first, followed, perhaps, with prayer for success of that action.

In 2015, the Pope designated September 1st as "a precious opportunity to renew our personal participation in this vocation as custodians of creation." He was referring to our need to preserve the environment as a moral responsibility for all people. He didn't ask his flock to pray for the environment, but to get off their collective butts and do something to assure its survival.

Bartholomew, who backed Francis' 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si said: 

"There has never been so much turmoil on our planet, but there has never been greater opportunity for communication, cooperation and dialogue. Basic human rights such as access to water, clean air and sufficient food should be available to everyone without distinction or discrimination. We are convinced that we cannot separate our concern for human dignity, human rights or social justice from the concern for ecological preservation and sustainability."

I know of no cases where such things as water, food or clean air have been denied to anyone in our great country. To imply such a thing is itself, racist.

The Paris accord was a farce--nothing more than a "gentlemen's agreement," a handshake of sorts, not to pollute, and a way to give poor countries money that they didn't need to spend for years in the future. 

The Paris accord was drawn up on the bones of socialism whereby rich countries supply the money for the poorer countries to spend, in many cases, as they wish, and not be obligated for years to do something for the environment. 

The pope's agenda is clear and no different than the unrealistic Obama ideology. 




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POTUS in France: they shook hands and wow!

President Trump arrived in Paris Thursday morning (EDST) for a meeting with France's President Emmanuel Macron. The meeting may mark a change in our relationship with the 'croissant nation.'

This year, American troops will join our French allies in the annual parade which marks 100 years since the US entered into World War One.

But today, something much more important took place, at least more important to the media--Presidents Trump and Macron shook hands.

When the pair first met ahead of the NATO summit in May, President Macron provided President Trump with a gripping handshake in front of the cameras, which he held for several long moments. 

But Macron also appeared to snub Trump later in the summit when he apparently swerved away from Trump's open arms, making our President wait while Macron schmoozed with other so-called world leaders.

When Trump announced he was pulling our of a key climate change agreement brokered in Paris, Macron released a video in English, inviting US scientists to come and live in France and used the slogan to "Make Our Planet Great Again," which was kind of a lazy reach at parody.

Photo: Getty Images

Things haven't been all peachy keen between them since Trump backed Macron's right-wing rival Marine Le Pen during the French presidential election. In fact, Russian influence in both US and French elections hang heavily over this visit.

But the handshake . . . 

"It is high time to finish with the juvenile rivalry of handshakes," an editorial in Le Monde said last month. It explained that Mr. Macron may have "stolen the American president's monopoly on being unpredictable . . .[but he] wants to become the European leader of the international political scene. To achieve this, he'll have to go beyond images and symbols."

Macron excels at flattering world leaders, kissing up to them, as it were, and he has made a strong effort most recently to do that with Mr. Trump.

Macron is young and inexperienced, receiving less than 25 percent of the vote in the first round of the French election. He now wants to increase his influence on the world stage and boost his popularity at home. 

Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, the secretary-general of the Socialist Party, told a French newspaper that Macron was "looking for the company of the world's big leaders" because he wanted to "legitimize his victory."

So when Trump landed in France this morning, he was greeted by a display of pomp and military might.

But the handshake . . . 

President Trump's acceptance of Macron's invitation was also a chance for him to show his transatlantic ties and the shared challenges the two countries face: the Syrian conflict, the fight against world terrorism, and the military alliance.

Tomorrow's commemorations will be a sad reminder of last year's Bastille Day terrorist attack in Nice, where 86 people were killed when a Tunisian-born Muslim man drove a truck through crowds gathered to watch the fireworks on the Promenade des Anglais.

Security has been significantly increased this year, as the French, like the rest of the world, closes the barn door after the horses escape.

But the handshake . . . the men stood across from each other. President Trump cocked an eye at President Macron. Then President Macron cocked an eye at President Trump.

Both men stood there . . . cock-eyed.

The French military band played The Star Spangled Banner then belted out La Marseillaise.

The handshake . . . both men extended their right arms, hands out front, palms perpendicular to the deck. 

The two hands met, then clasped in international solidarity . . .  then the two hands went up . . .  then down . . . and all too soon, all too very soon, the two hands left the company of one another returning on their journey to the sides of two presidents.


Big deal.



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