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Somber Bugles and Bells Mark Armistice Day Around the Globe as Wars Drown Out Peace Messages
French President Emmanuel Macron adjusts the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe,
as part of the commemorations marking the105th anniversary of the Nov. 11, 1918 Armistice, ending World War I,
Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023 in Paris. (Ludovic Marin/Pool via AP)
11 Nov 2023
Associated Press | By RAF CASERT and MARTA FIORIN
YPRES, Belgium (AP) — With somber bugles and bells from Australia to western Europe's battlefields of World War I , .. https://apnews.com/hub/world-war-i .. people around the globe on Saturday remembered the slaughter and losses just over a century ago that was supposed to be “the war to end all wars.”
Yet the rumble of tanks and the screeching of incoming fire from Ukraine to Gaza pierced the solemnity of the occasion and the notion that humankind could somehow circumvent violence to settle its worst differences.
“This time last year, our thoughts were focused on Ukraine. Today, our minds are full with the terrible images emerging from Israel and Gaza. These are just two of the more than 100 armed conflicts in the world today,” said Benoit Mottrie, the head of the Last Post Association in western Belgium's Ypres, where some of the fiercest and deadliest World War I battles were fought.
During a ceremony with Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and dozens of dignitaries, Mottrie expressed the sense of powerlessness that so many feel that the lessons of the past cannot automatically be translated into peace today.
“It would be naive to think that our presence here in Ypres will have any direct impact on any of the 100 conflicts. The emotions of those involved are too raw for us to understand, and for them to see the light of what we regard as reason,” Mottrie said.
At the same time as French President Emmanuel Macron was saluting French troops in Paris and honoring the eternal flame to commemorate those who died unidentified, war and destruction was raging Gaza. In Ukraine, troops have been fighting Russian invaders along a front line that has barely moved over the past months, much like in Western Europe during most of World War I.
Still Armistice Day largely stuck to the primary purpose of the occasion — to remember and pay respect to those who died for their country.
“'Lest we forget,' — It should not be forgotten," said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, reflecting on the carnage of the 1914-1918 war that killed almost 10 million soldiers, sometimes tens of thousands on a single day in a war that pitted the armies of France, the British empire, Russia and the U.S. against a German-led coalition that included the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires.
Generally the most peaceful of occasions, the ceremony in London was held under strict police and security surveillance for fears that a massive pro-Palestinian protest could run out of hand and clash with the remembrance ceremonies.
“Remembrance weekend is sacred for us all and should be a moment of unity, of our shared British values and of solemn reflection,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Related Topics: Military Headlines Veterans Day Topics World War I
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/11/11/somber-bugles-and-bells-mark-armistice-day-around-globe-wars-drown-out-peace-messages.html
Somber Bugles and Bells Mark Armistice Day Around the Globe as Wars Drown Out Peace Messages
French President Emmanuel Macron adjusts the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe,
as part of the commemorations marking the105th anniversary of the Nov. 11, 1918 Armistice, ending World War I,
Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023 in Paris. (Ludovic Marin/Pool via AP)
11 Nov 2023
Associated Press | By RAF CASERT and MARTA FIORIN
YPRES, Belgium (AP) — With somber bugles and bells from Australia to western Europe's battlefields of World War I , .. https://apnews.com/hub/world-war-i .. people around the globe on Saturday remembered the slaughter and losses just over a century ago that was supposed to be “the war to end all wars.”
Yet the rumble of tanks and the screeching of incoming fire from Ukraine to Gaza pierced the solemnity of the occasion and the notion that humankind could somehow circumvent violence to settle its worst differences.
“This time last year, our thoughts were focused on Ukraine. Today, our minds are full with the terrible images emerging from Israel and Gaza. These are just two of the more than 100 armed conflicts in the world today,” said Benoit Mottrie, the head of the Last Post Association in western Belgium's Ypres, where some of the fiercest and deadliest World War I battles were fought.
During a ceremony with Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and dozens of dignitaries, Mottrie expressed the sense of powerlessness that so many feel that the lessons of the past cannot automatically be translated into peace today.
“It would be naive to think that our presence here in Ypres will have any direct impact on any of the 100 conflicts. The emotions of those involved are too raw for us to understand, and for them to see the light of what we regard as reason,” Mottrie said.
At the same time as French President Emmanuel Macron was saluting French troops in Paris and honoring the eternal flame to commemorate those who died unidentified, war and destruction was raging Gaza. In Ukraine, troops have been fighting Russian invaders along a front line that has barely moved over the past months, much like in Western Europe during most of World War I.
Still Armistice Day largely stuck to the primary purpose of the occasion — to remember and pay respect to those who died for their country.
“'Lest we forget,' — It should not be forgotten," said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, reflecting on the carnage of the 1914-1918 war that killed almost 10 million soldiers, sometimes tens of thousands on a single day in a war that pitted the armies of France, the British empire, Russia and the U.S. against a German-led coalition that included the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires.
Generally the most peaceful of occasions, the ceremony in London was held under strict police and security surveillance for fears that a massive pro-Palestinian protest could run out of hand and clash with the remembrance ceremonies.
“Remembrance weekend is sacred for us all and should be a moment of unity, of our shared British values and of solemn reflection,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Related Topics: Military Headlines Veterans Day Topics World War I
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/11/11/somber-bugles-and-bells-mark-armistice-day-around-globe-wars-drown-out-peace-messages.html
Thanks for updating the issue from my previous posts... about Trump's gross incompetence.
On Veterans Day, Biden commemorates the sacrifice made by soldiers and their families
November 11, 20231:45 PM ET
Juliana Kim
President Biden speaks at the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery during celebrations for Veterans Day on Saturday in Arlington, Virginia.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden paid his respects to those who served the country and their families on Saturday — vowing to provide them with the care they need and deserve during his Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery.
"We owe them. We owe you," Biden said Saturday afternoon. "Not just for keeping the flame of freedom burning during the darkest of moments. For preserving our communities even after they hang up their uniforms, for inspiring the next generation to serve."
The president's remarks came on the 105th anniversary of the end of World War I but his message was largely focused on today's veterans, who he described as the "steel spine" of the nation.
During his remarks, Biden acknowledged the sacrifice that soldiers and their families often make in order to serve the country, like the holidays spent apart, the move from one duty station to another and the sleepless nights waiting to hear back from a loved one deployed oversees.
"Too often their sacrifices go without thanks or without acknowledgment," Biden said.
He added that it was the country's "sacred obligation" to recognize such sacrifices and provide them with adequate support and care.
"It's not an obligation based on party or politics, but on a promise that unites us all together," he said.
The president's speech on care comes a day after the White House announced new efforts to expand healthcare access for veterans. Beginning this month, the Department of Veteran Affairs will offer its no-cost healthcare to veterans who live in nursing homes and all those who served in World War II. The department will also cover costs associated with Parkinson's disease.
On Saturday, Biden also announced that veterans who were exposed to toxins will be able to enroll in the department's no-cost healthcare starting March 2024. The effort to provide toxin-exposed veterans health services has been hailed as the largest expansion of care in VA history.
Before his remarks, Biden placed a floral wreath at the tomb, solemnly looked at it and gestured the sign of the cross before the military band's trumpeter played taps.
The president was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris, and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, as well as some members of the president's cabinet.
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/11/1212487962/on-veterans-day-biden-commemorates-the-sacrifice-made-by-soldiers-and-their-fami
On Veterans Day, Biden commemorates the sacrifice made by soldiers and their families
November 11, 20231:45 PM ET
Juliana Kim
President Biden speaks at the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery during celebrations for Veterans Day on Saturday in Arlington, Virginia.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden paid his respects to those who served the country and their families on Saturday — vowing to provide them with the care they need and deserve during his Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery.
"We owe them. We owe you," Biden said Saturday afternoon. "Not just for keeping the flame of freedom burning during the darkest of moments. For preserving our communities even after they hang up their uniforms, for inspiring the next generation to serve."
The president's remarks came on the 105th anniversary of the end of World War I but his message was largely focused on today's veterans, who he described as the "steel spine" of the nation.
During his remarks, Biden acknowledged the sacrifice that soldiers and their families often make in order to serve the country, like the holidays spent apart, the move from one duty station to another and the sleepless nights waiting to hear back from a loved one deployed oversees.
"Too often their sacrifices go without thanks or without acknowledgment," Biden said.
He added that it was the country's "sacred obligation" to recognize such sacrifices and provide them with adequate support and care.
"It's not an obligation based on party or politics, but on a promise that unites us all together," he said.
The president's speech on care comes a day after the White House announced new efforts to expand healthcare access for veterans. Beginning this month, the Department of Veteran Affairs will offer its no-cost healthcare to veterans who live in nursing homes and all those who served in World War II. The department will also cover costs associated with Parkinson's disease.
On Saturday, Biden also announced that veterans who were exposed to toxins will be able to enroll in the department's no-cost healthcare starting March 2024. The effort to provide toxin-exposed veterans health services has been hailed as the largest expansion of care in VA history.
Before his remarks, Biden placed a floral wreath at the tomb, solemnly looked at it and gestured the sign of the cross before the military band's trumpeter played taps.
The president was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris, and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, as well as some members of the president's cabinet.
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/11/1212487962/on-veterans-day-biden-commemorates-the-sacrifice-made-by-soldiers-and-their-fami
Report: Trump disparaged US war dead as ‘losers,’ ‘suckers’
"5 Ways President Trump and Congressional Republicans Are Betraying Veterans"
By James LaPorta, The Associated Press
Sep 3, 2020
DELRAY BEACH, FLa. — A new report details multiple instances of President Donald Trump making disparaging remarks about members of the U.S. military who have been captured or killed, including referring to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 2018 as “losers” and “suckers.”
Trump said Thursday that the story is “totally false.”
The allegations were first reported in The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/
A senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of events and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump’s comments confirmed some of the remarks to The Associated Press, including the 2018 cemetery comments.
The defense officials said Trump made the comments as he begged off visiting the cemetery outside Paris during a meeting following his presidential daily briefing on the morning of Nov. 10, 2018.
Staffers from the National Security Council and the Secret Service told Trump that rainy weather made helicopter travel to the cemetery risky, but they could drive there. Trump responded by saying he didn’t want to visit the cemetery because it was “filled with losers,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The White House blamed the canceled visit on poor weather at the time.
In another conversation on the trip, The Atlantic said, Trump referred to the 1,800 Marines who died in the World War I battle of Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
Trump emphatically denied the Atlantic report Thursday night, calling it “a disgraceful situation” by a “terrible magazine.”
Speaking to reporters after he returned to Washington from a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Trump said: “I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes. There is nobody that respects them more. No animal — nobody — what animal would say such a thing?”
Trump also reiterated the White House explanation of why he didn’t visit the cemetery. “The helicopter could not fly,” he said, because of the rain and fog. “The Secret Service told me you can’t do it. ... They would never have been able to get the police and everybody else in line to have a president go through a very crowded, very congested area.”
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said, “It’s sad the depths that people will go to during a lead-up to a presidential campaign to try to smear somebody.”
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday, “If the revelations in today’s Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the President of the United States.”
“Duty, honor, country — those are the values that drive our service members,” he said in a statement Thursday night, adding that if he is elected president, “I will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honor their sacrifice — always.” Biden’s son Beau served in Iraq in 2008-09.
The Defense officials also confirmed to The AP reporting in The Atlantic that Trump on Memorial Day 2017 had gone with his chief of staff, John Kelly, to visit the Arlington Cemetery gravesite of Kelly’s son, Robert, who was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan, and said to Kelly: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
The senior Marine Corps officer and The Atlantic, citing sources with firsthand knowledge, also reported that Trump said he didn’t want to support the August 2018 funeral of Republican Sen. John McCain, a decorated Navy veteran who spent years as a Vietnam prisoner of war, because he was a “loser.”
The Atlantic also reported that Trump was angered that flags were flown at half-staff for McCain, saying: “What the f—- are we doing that for? Guy was a f—-ing loser.”
Trump acknowledged Thursday he was “never a fan” of McCain and disagreed with him, but said he still respected him and approved everything to do with his “first-class triple-A funeral” without hesitation because “I felt he deserved it.”
In 2015, shortly after launching his presidential candidacy, Trump publicly blasted McCain, saying “He’s not a war hero.” He added, “I like people who weren’t captured.”
Trump only amplified his criticism of McCain as the Arizona lawmaker grew critical of his acerbic style of politics, culminating in a late-night “no” vote scuttling Trump’s plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That vote shattered what few partisan loyalties bound the two men, and Trump has continued to attack McCain for that vote, even posthumously.
The magazine said Trump also referred to former President George H.W. Bush as a “loser” because he was shot down by the Japanese as a Navy pilot in World War II.
09:03
What troops really think of Biden and Trump, violent clash in Syria, and a shark joins swim call
THE WHITE HOUSE - A Proclamation on Veterans Day, 2023
November 07, 2023
Briefing Room > Presidential Actions
This Veterans Day, we honor the generations of women and men who have served and sacrificed — not for a person, a place, or a President — but for an idea unlike any other: the idea of the United States of America. For nearly 250 years, our veterans have defended the values that make us strong so that our Nation could stand as a citadel of liberty, a beacon of freedom, and a wellspring of possibilities.
Today, I am thinking of all our Nation’s veterans, who put their lives on the line to protect our democracy, values, and freedom around the world. We honor our wounded warriors, so many of whom the First Lady and I have met over the years, who are bound by a common sense of duty, courage, and optimism, and we remember those who are still missing in action or prisoners of war and renew my pledge to bring them home. Our military families, caregivers, and survivors also answer the call to serve. I remember so clearly the pride I felt in our son Beau during his service in Iraq as well as those mornings I saw the First Lady saying a prayer for his safe return. Our veterans and their families give so much to our Nation, and we owe them a debt we can never fully repay.
As a Nation, we have many obligations, but we only have one truly sacred obligation: to prepare and equip the brave women and men we send into harm’s way and to care for them and their loved ones when they return home. Since the beginning of my Administration, we have worked to make good on that promise, passing nearly 30 bipartisan laws to support our veterans and service members and their families, caregivers, and survivors. That includes the PACT Act — the most significant effort in our Nation’s history to help millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service. Since I signed the PACT Act into law last year, more than 478,000 veterans and survivors are already receiving benefits — ensuring that veterans exposed to burn pits and other harmful substances and their loved ones get access to the care and support they need.
My Administration is also committed to ending veteran suicide and homelessness and ensuring that our veterans have the resources they need to live full lives and thrive in their communities. We released a national strategy to reduce military and veteran suicide by improving lethal means safety and enhancing crisis care as well as by addressing the economic, legal, and mental health issues that impact veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs is also funding community-led suicide prevention programs, which help connect veterans and their families to needed services. Every veteran deserves a roof over their head, which is why we have taken bold actions to end veteran homelessness, permanently housing more than 40,000 veterans last year and investing $1 billion to provide supportive services to help homeless and at-risk veterans and their families. My Budget also proposes tripling the number of rental-assistance vouchers for extremely low-income veterans to prevent homelessness. Further, we have taken steps to improve the economic security of veterans and their families by expanding job training programs for transitioning veterans and their spouses and issuing rules to protect them from predatory educational institutions. We are also working to ensure every veteran has access to the benefits and services they have earned.
Earlier this year, I signed an Executive Order directing more than 50 actions to improve access to child care and long-term care for Americans, including military and veteran families, and to support family caregivers, especially those who care for our veterans. Recognizing the talents and contributions of veteran and military spouses, caregivers, and survivors to our workforce, I signed an Executive Order establishing the most comprehensive set of administrative actions in our Nation’s history to support their economic security — increasing training and employment opportunities for military spouses in the workforce throughout the transition to veteran spouses status and encouraging all Federal agencies to do more to retain military and veteran spouses through flexible policies. The First Lady’s Joining Forces initiative is further supporting military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors by improving economic opportunities and expanding resources to promote health and well-being for this community.
As we mark the 50th anniversary of an all-volunteer force and the 75th anniversary of the full integration of women in the Armed Forces and the desegregation of the troops, my Administration reaffirms our commitment to supporting everyone who serves in our Armed Forces. We have taken steps to ensure that the more than 918,000 women veterans enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs health care have equitable access to benefits and health services, in part by expanding access to reproductive health care. We have worked to proactively review the military records of veterans discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and to modernize the process of upgrading discharges to help all veterans access their earned benefits. We will continue to support our LGBTQI+ veterans and veterans of color who have made innumerable contributions to our Nation and have truly made our military stronger, tougher, and more capable.
This Veterans Day, may we honor the incredible faith that our veterans hold, not just in our country but in all of us. They are the solid-steel backbone of our Nation, and we must endeavor to continue being worthy of their sacrifices by working toward a more perfect Union and protecting the freedoms that they have fought to defend.
In respect and recognition of the contributions our veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors have made to the cause of peace and freedom around the world, the Congress has provided (5 U.S.C. 6103(a)) that November 11 of each year shall be set aside as a legal public holiday to honor our Nation’s veterans.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim November 11, 2023, as Veterans Day. I encourage all Americans to recognize the valor, courage, and sacrifice of these patriots through appropriate ceremonies and private prayers and by observing two minutes of silence for our Nation’s veterans. I also call upon Federal, State, and local officials to display the flag of the United States of America and to participate in patriotic activities in their communities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/11/07/a-proclamation-on-veterans-day-2023/
THE WHITE HOUSE - A Proclamation on Veterans Day, 2023
November 07, 2023
Briefing Room > Presidential Actions
This Veterans Day, we honor the generations of women and men who have served and sacrificed — not for a person, a place, or a President — but for an idea unlike any other: the idea of the United States of America. For nearly 250 years, our veterans have defended the values that make us strong so that our Nation could stand as a citadel of liberty, a beacon of freedom, and a wellspring of possibilities.
Today, I am thinking of all our Nation’s veterans, who put their lives on the line to protect our democracy, values, and freedom around the world. We honor our wounded warriors, so many of whom the First Lady and I have met over the years, who are bound by a common sense of duty, courage, and optimism, and we remember those who are still missing in action or prisoners of war and renew my pledge to bring them home. Our military families, caregivers, and survivors also answer the call to serve. I remember so clearly the pride I felt in our son Beau during his service in Iraq as well as those mornings I saw the First Lady saying a prayer for his safe return. Our veterans and their families give so much to our Nation, and we owe them a debt we can never fully repay.
As a Nation, we have many obligations, but we only have one truly sacred obligation: to prepare and equip the brave women and men we send into harm’s way and to care for them and their loved ones when they return home. Since the beginning of my Administration, we have worked to make good on that promise, passing nearly 30 bipartisan laws to support our veterans and service members and their families, caregivers, and survivors. That includes the PACT Act — the most significant effort in our Nation’s history to help millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service. Since I signed the PACT Act into law last year, more than 478,000 veterans and survivors are already receiving benefits — ensuring that veterans exposed to burn pits and other harmful substances and their loved ones get access to the care and support they need.
My Administration is also committed to ending veteran suicide and homelessness and ensuring that our veterans have the resources they need to live full lives and thrive in their communities. We released a national strategy to reduce military and veteran suicide by improving lethal means safety and enhancing crisis care as well as by addressing the economic, legal, and mental health issues that impact veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs is also funding community-led suicide prevention programs, which help connect veterans and their families to needed services. Every veteran deserves a roof over their head, which is why we have taken bold actions to end veteran homelessness, permanently housing more than 40,000 veterans last year and investing $1 billion to provide supportive services to help homeless and at-risk veterans and their families. My Budget also proposes tripling the number of rental-assistance vouchers for extremely low-income veterans to prevent homelessness. Further, we have taken steps to improve the economic security of veterans and their families by expanding job training programs for transitioning veterans and their spouses and issuing rules to protect them from predatory educational institutions. We are also working to ensure every veteran has access to the benefits and services they have earned.
Earlier this year, I signed an Executive Order directing more than 50 actions to improve access to child care and long-term care for Americans, including military and veteran families, and to support family caregivers, especially those who care for our veterans. Recognizing the talents and contributions of veteran and military spouses, caregivers, and survivors to our workforce, I signed an Executive Order establishing the most comprehensive set of administrative actions in our Nation’s history to support their economic security — increasing training and employment opportunities for military spouses in the workforce throughout the transition to veteran spouses status and encouraging all Federal agencies to do more to retain military and veteran spouses through flexible policies. The First Lady’s Joining Forces initiative is further supporting military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors by improving economic opportunities and expanding resources to promote health and well-being for this community.
As we mark the 50th anniversary of an all-volunteer force and the 75th anniversary of the full integration of women in the Armed Forces and the desegregation of the troops, my Administration reaffirms our commitment to supporting everyone who serves in our Armed Forces. We have taken steps to ensure that the more than 918,000 women veterans enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs health care have equitable access to benefits and health services, in part by expanding access to reproductive health care. We have worked to proactively review the military records of veterans discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and to modernize the process of upgrading discharges to help all veterans access their earned benefits. We will continue to support our LGBTQI+ veterans and veterans of color who have made innumerable contributions to our Nation and have truly made our military stronger, tougher, and more capable.
This Veterans Day, may we honor the incredible faith that our veterans hold, not just in our country but in all of us. They are the solid-steel backbone of our Nation, and we must endeavor to continue being worthy of their sacrifices by working toward a more perfect Union and protecting the freedoms that they have fought to defend.
In respect and recognition of the contributions our veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors have made to the cause of peace and freedom around the world, the Congress has provided (5 U.S.C. 6103(a)) that November 11 of each year shall be set aside as a legal public holiday to honor our Nation’s veterans.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim November 11, 2023, as Veterans Day. I encourage all Americans to recognize the valor, courage, and sacrifice of these patriots through appropriate ceremonies and private prayers and by observing two minutes of silence for our Nation’s veterans. I also call upon Federal, State, and local officials to display the flag of the United States of America and to participate in patriotic activities in their communities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/11/07/a-proclamation-on-veterans-day-2023/
Earth just experienced the hottest 12 months ever recorded
FILE - A man cools off in a shower at Ipanema beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 24, 2023. The last 12 months were the hottest Earth has ever recorded, according to a new report Thursday, Nov. 9, by Climate Central, a nonprofit science research group. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado, File)
By ISABELLA O’MALLEY
Updated 5:03 AM CST, November 9, 2023
The last 12 months were the hottest Earth has ever recorded, according to a new report by Climate Central, a nonprofit science research group.
The peer-reviewed report says burning gasoline, coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels that release planet-warming gases like carbon dioxide and other human activities, caused the unnatural warming from November 2022 to October 2023.,
"Climate Questions: How does carbon dioxide trap heat?"
https://apnews.com/article/science-climate-and-environment-chemistry-a18f859ff7b149c81306504bc7737f7b
Over the course of the year, 7.3 billion people, or 90% of humanity, endured at least 10 days of high temperatures that were made at least three times more likely because of climate change.
“People know that things are weird, but they don’t they don’t necessarily know why it’s weird. They don’t connect back to the fact that we’re still burning coal, oil and natural gas,” said Andrew Pershing, a climate scientist at Climate Central.
“I think the thing that really came screaming out of the data this year was nobody is safe. Everybody was experiencing unusual climate-driven heat at some point during the year,” said Pershing.
The average global temperature was 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the pre-industrial climate, which scientists say is close to the limit countries agreed not to go over in the Paris Agreement — a 1.5 C (2.7 F) rise. The impacts were apparent as one in four humans, or 1.9 billion people, suffered from dangerous heat waves.
At this point, said Jason Smerdon, a climate scientist at Columbia University, no one should be caught off guard. “It’s like being on an escalator
and being surprised that you’re going up,” he said. ”We know that things are getting warmer, this has been predicted for decades.”
Residents of a riverside community carry food and containers of drinking water after receiving aid due to the ongoing drought in Careiro da Varzea, Amazonas state, Brazil, Oct. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Here’s how a few regions were affected by the extreme heat:
1. Extreme heat fueled destructive rainfall because a warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, which lets storms release more precipitation. Storm Daniel became Africa’s deadliest storm with an estimated death toll that ranges between 4,000 and 11,000, according to officials and aid agencies. Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey also saw damages and fatalities from Storm Daniel.
2. In India, 1.2 billion people, or 86% of the population, experienced at least 30 days of elevated temperatures, made at least three times more likely by climate change.
3. Drought in Brazil’s Amazon region caused rivers to dry to historic lows, cutting people off from food and fresh water.
4. At least 383 people died in U.S. extreme weather events, with 93 deaths related to the Maui wildfire event, the deadliest U.S. fire of the century.
5. One of every 200 people in Canada evacuated their home due to wildfires, which burn longer and more intensely after long periods of heat dry out the land. Canadian fires sent smoke billowing across much of North America.
6. On average, Jamaica experienced high temperatures made four times more likely by climate change during the last 12 months, making it the country where climate change was most powerfully at work.
“We need to adapt, mitigate and be better prepared for the residual damages because impacts are highly uneven from place to place,” said Kristie Ebi, a professor at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the University of Washington, citing changes in precipitation, sea level rise, droughts, and wildfires.
The heat of the last year, intense as it was, is tempered because the oceans have been absorbing the majority of the excess heat related to climate change, but they are reaching their limit, said Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at Brown University. “Oceans are really the thermostat of our planet ... they are tied to our economy, food sources, and coastal infrastructure.”
____
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations.
See more about AP’s climate initiative here: https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2022/ap-announces-sweeping-climate-journalism-initiative
The AP is solely responsible for all content.
CLIMATE: https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment
https://apnews.com/article/extreme-heat-wave-global-hottest-months-5034c9a967c77284e17bbdd57bacaafa';
Judge reimposes gag order on Trump in federal election interference case
October 30, 202311:02 AM ET
Ryan Lucas
The judge presiding over Donald Trump's federal election interference case has reinstated a gag order on the former president.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed the restrictions on Trump two weeks ago, barring him from making public statements targeting prosecutors, court staff and likely witnesses. Trump appealed, and asked that the gag be lifted as that appeal plays out in the courts.
Chutkan temporarily paused the restrictions to let the two sides brief her on their additional arguments. In her ruling, the judge said Trump is unlikely to win his appeal on the merits, and that the restrictions are necessary to protect the administration of justice.
"The First Amendment rights of participants in criminal proceedings must yield, when necessary, to the orderly administration of justice," the judge said in her order. "And contrary to Defendant's argument, the right to a fair trial is not his alone, but belongs also to the government and the public."
Trump, she said, fails to acknowledge evidence presented by the government that when the former president publicly attacked individuals, including on issues related to this case, those individuals have faced threats and harassment.
"The evidence is in the record," Chutkan wrote. "Defendant fails to acknowledge it."
The judge also rejected Trump's argument that the gag order is unconstitutionally vague, including its use of the term "targeting."
Chutkan pointed to two of Trump's social media posts to illustrate the sort of statements that are allowed and those that her order bars.
In the first one, made when the gag was in place, Trump asserts his innocence, claims his prosecution is politically motivated and accuses the Biden administration of being corrupt. Those statements, Chutkan writes, do not violate her order "targeting" certain individuals.
In the second one, posted when the restrictions were lifted, Trump lashes out at his last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, following a report that Meadows was granted immunity to testify before the grand jury.
This post, Chutkan says, "would almost certainly" violate the gag order because it "singles out a foreseeable witness for purposes of characterizing his potentially unfavorable testimony as a 'lie.'"
Trump's post "could readily be interpreted as an attempt to influence o prevent the witness's participation in this case," the order says.
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/30/1209423940/trump-gag-order
Lewiston, Maine, shooting live updates: Massacre suspect remains at large
Hundreds of police officers and investigators have joined the search for prime suspect Robert Card, who is accused of killing 18 people in Lewiston.
Michael Sauschuck, Commissioner of the Maine Dept. of Public Safety, said Friday that investigators are working over 530 tips and leads that have poured in from the public since the shooting.
"As you can imagine those vary greatly. We’re continuing to check those off the list as we go," he said, noting many of those tips have been followed up on overnight.
25m ago / 9:25 AM CDT
Manhunt will include dive and air searches of Androscoggin River
Marlene Lenthang
The ongoing search for Robert Card will include dive teams and air searches of the Androscoggin River in the area where the suspect's car was found, Michael Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, said Friday.
The search will scour the area near the Lisbon boat launch where Card's white Subaru was found.
Sauschuck said aerial teams will search the waters from above, dive teams may use ROVs (remote operated vehicles) using sonar technology to look for shadows or movement, and officers will search the land in the area as well.
This is just one of the several search sites investigators will explore today.
[...]
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/lewiston-maine-massacre-manhunt-suspect-rcna122436
LYIN' TRUMP's drumbeat of lies about the 2020 election keeps getting louder. Here are the facts
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Live updates: At least 18 killed in shootings in Lewiston, Maine; Manhunt underway for suspect
Police are looking for Robert Card, 40, after the attacks at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston last evening, officials said.
03:51
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/lewiston-maine-shooting-manhunt-gunman-police-live-rcna122270
Updated Oct. 26, 2023, 6:18 PM CDT
By NBC News
What we know about the shootings
* At least 18 people are dead and 13 others are injured after shootings at a bar and a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine.
* Police named Robert Card, 40, as a suspect in the shootings and an arrest warrant on murder charges has been issued. He remains at large.
* Seven people were found dead at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, eight were found dead at Schemengees Bar and Grille and three were pronounced dead at area hospitals.
* Officials have urged residents of Lewiston, Maine's second-largest city about 30 miles north of Portland, and nearby Auburn to shelter in place. Residents in other communities have also been asked to stay put, and many schools and businesses are closed.
* NBC News’ Lester Holt, Emilie Ikeda, Sam Brock, Emma Barnett, Rehema Ellis, Antonia Hylton, George Solis, Alex Seitz-Wald, Minyvonne Burke and Erik Ortiz are reporting from Maine.
A Proclamation on Honoring the Victims of the Tragedy in Lewiston, Maine
October 26, 2023
Briefing Room - Presidential Actions
As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on October 25, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, October 30, 2023.
I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
Michael Cohen Gets His Revenge on Donald Trump
Oct 24, 2023 at 2:35 PM EDT
"Michael Cohen to testify at Trump’s fraud trial this week"
Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen took the stand Tuesday in the former president's civil fraud trial, where the two men came together for the first time in five years.
Cohen and Trump appeared face-to-face in a Manhattan courtroom as Cohen testified against his ex-boss in connection with the New York state attorney general's $250 million lawsuit accusing Trump of falsely inflating his assets to deceive lenders, insurers and others.
Cohen's testimony has been highly anticipated in the case. Since publicly turning on Trump five years ago, he has gone from Trump's lawyer and ally who vowed to "take a bullet" for the former president to one of his most vocal critics. He had initially been scheduled to testify last week, but his court appearance was delayed because of a medical issue.
During his testimony, Cohen provided a damning account of Trump's actions, telling the court under oath that he lied to Congress under Trump's direction and for his benefit. He also said that Trump had "arbitrarily" set his net worth numbers.
"I was asked to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected," Cohen said about Trump's 2011 financial statement. He added that it was his responsibility to reverse engineer various assets "in order to achieve a number that Mr. Trump asked" for.
Ahead of his testimony, Cohen told reporters outside the courthouse that he was "looking forward to the reunion" and insisted that his appearance was not the culmination of a bitter, yearslong feud between himself and his old boss.
"This is not about Donald Trump versus Michael Cohen or Michael Cohen versus Donald Trump," Cohen said. "This is about accountability, plain and simple."
Trump, on the other hand, did not hesitate to attack his former close associate turned foe, calling Cohen a "liar" to the press and saying that he only took the stand "to get a better deal for himself."
"He has a horrible record," Trump said Tuesday. "It's not going to end up very good for him. We're not worried at all about his testimony."
Trump was seen hunched forward in his seat as Cohen delivered his testimony, watching closely and whispering to his lawyers at times. Cohen glanced quickly at the defense table as he walked up to the stand.
While Cohen and Trump have not seen each other in five years, the ex-lawyer has written two books, testified to half a dozen congressional committees and appeared before local and state prosecutors to talk about his work for Trump.
On Tuesday, Cohen told The Messenger's Adam Klasfeld that he "provided information to [New York's attorney general] that is the basis of this trial."
https://www.newsweek.com/michael-cohen-gets-his-revenge-donald-trump-1837484
Jenna Ellis becomes latest Trump lawyer to plead guilty over efforts to overturn Georgia’s election
FILE - Jenna Ellis, a former member of then-President Donald Trump’s legal team, speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Nov. 19, 2020, in Washington. Ellis has pleaded guilty to reduced charges over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. Ellis is the fourth defendant in the case to enter into a plea deal with prosecutors. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
By WILL WEISSERT and KATE BRUMBACK
Updated 9:17 AM CDT, October 24, 2023
'Ellis is now widely expected to flip on her old boss...'
ATLANTA (AP) — Attorney and prominent conservative media figure Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a reduced charge over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia, tearfully telling the judge she looks back on that time with “deep remorse.”
Ellis, the fourth defendant in the case to enter into a plea deal with prosecutors, was a vocal part of Trump’s reelection campaign in the last presidential cycle and was charged alongside the Republican former president and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law. .. https://apnews.com/article/georgia-trump-election-investigation-indictment-rico-willis-2b18a1c1ed6a4ce22b1a2ca88ea861e3
Ellis pleaded guilty to a felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. She had been facing charges of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and soliciting the violation of oath by a public officer.
She rose to speak after pleading guilty, fighting back tears as she said she would have not have represented Trump after the 2020 election if she knew then what she knows now, claiming that she she relied on lawyers with much more experience than her and failed to verify the things they told her.
“What I did not do but should have done, Your Honor, was to make sure that the facts the other lawyers alleged to be true were in fact true,” the 38-year-old Ellis said.
The guilty plea from Ellis comes just days after two other defendants, fellow attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, entered guilty pleas. That means three high-profile people responsible for pushing baseless legal challenges to Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory have agreed to accept responsibility for their roles rather than take their chances before a jury.
She was sentenced to five years of probation along with $5,000 in restitution, 100 hours of community service, writing an apology letter to the people of Georgia and testifying truthfully in trials related to this case.
The early pleas and the favorable punishment — probation rather than jail — could foreshadow similar outcomes for additional defendants who may see an admission of guilt and cooperation as their best hope for leniency. Even so, their value as witnesses against Trump is unclear given that their direct participation in unfounded schemes will no doubt expose them to attacks on their credibility and bruising cross-examinations should they testify.
The indictment in the sweeping case details a number of accusations against Ellis, including that she helped author plans on how to disrupt and delay congressional certification of the 2020 election’s results on Jan. 6, 2021, the day a mob of Trump supporters eventually overran the U.S. Capitol.
Ellis is also accused of urging state legislators to unlawfully appoint a set of presidential electors loyal to Trump at a hearing in Pennsylvania, and she later appeared with some of those lawmakers and Trump at a meeting on the topic at the White House. The indictment further says she similarly pushed state lawmakers to back false, pro-Trump electors in Georgia as well as Arizona and Michigan.
Before her plea, Ellis, who lives in Florida, was defiant, posting in August on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, “The Democrats and the Fulton County DA are criminalizing the practice of law. I am resolved to trust the Lord.”
But she has been more critical of Trump since then, saying on conservative radio in September that she wouldn’t vote for him again, citing his “malignant, narcissistic tendency to simply say that he’s never done anything wrong.”
Along with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Ellis was a leading voice in the Trump campaign’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, appearing frequently on television and conservative media to tell lies about widespread fraud that did not occur and spread misinformation and conspiracy theories.
She was censured in Colorado in March after admitting she made repeated false statements about the 2020 election.
That punishment was due in part to a Nov. 20, 2020, appearance on Newsmax, during which she said, “With all those states (Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia) combined we know that the election was stolen from President Trump, and we can prove that.”
Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties. Powell will serve six years of probation, will be fined $6,000 and has to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents.
Chesebro pleaded guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents just as jury selection was getting underway in his trial. He was sentenced to five years’ probation and 100 hours of community service and was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution, write an apology letter to Georgia’s residents and testify truthfully at any related future trial.
A lower-profile defendant in the case, bail bondsman Scott Graham Hall, pleaded guilty last month to five misdemeanor charges. He was sentenced to five years of probation and agreed to testify in further proceedings.
Trump and the other defendants, including his White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have pleaded not guilty.
___
Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
https://apnews.com/article/jenna-ellis-plea-deal-georgia-election-case-c4dbacd3e4bbb5415ebd3d42d8fa3128
Liz Cheney Just Terrified Every Republican
Story by Andrew Sanders • 3h
"Liz Cheney time?"
Former Rep. Liz Cheney is not ruling out running for president and warns about the dangers of a second term for Donald Trump.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper said, “Donald Trump is likely to be the next Republican presidential nominee, and he has a decent shot being elected the next president.”
“It could happen,” Tapper said. “What would a second Donald Trump term look like?” (Poll: Who Should Win the Presidency In 2024? VOTE)
Cheney said, “Well, he cannot be the next president because if he is, all of the things that he attempted to do but was stopped from doing by responsible people around him, a at the Department of Justice and the White House Counsel office, he will do.”
“There will be no guardrails and everyone has been warned. After January 6, after our investigation, after all of the evidence that we laid out about all of the steps and his multi-part plan to overturn the election, there could be no question that he will unravel the institutions of our democracy.”
“So we’re facing a moment in American politics where we have to set aside partisanship and we have to make sure that people who believe in the Constitution are willing to come together to prevent him from ever again setting foot anywhere near the Oval Office.” (Trending: Joe Biden Does the Unthinkable For Hamas)
Related video: CNN: Liz Cheney won't rule out a 2024 run (FOX News)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/liz-cheney-just-terrified-every-republican/ar-AA1iIuw7?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=LCTS&cvid=0c112a6a9b914449a09b3f5a1be494cd&ei=19
Tapper said, “You’re not ruling out a presidential run?”
Cheney said, “No, I’m not.”
Cheney believes that if Trump were to become president again, he would have no guardrails and would unravel the institutions of democracy.
She urges people to set aside partisanship and come together to prevent Trump from returning to the Oval Office.
BREAKING: Leaked Audio of Australian Billionaire Talking Trump Secrets Released By 60 Minutes Australia
Story by Colby Hall • 8h
16:49
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/breaking-leaked-audio-of-australian-billionaire-talking-trump-secrets-released-by-60-minutes-australia/ar-AA1iEGO7?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=LCTS&cvid=2d10fcc0c50d4bf4bc39ffb82d7cea44&ei=10
Former President Donald Trump was more open with state secrets than previously reported, according to newly-leaked audio recordings published by 60 Minutes Australia.
The news segment, which ran early Sunday morning U.S. time, revealed Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt talking about his experiences and relationship with the former president. Pratt is the central figure in the ABC News report from earlier this month that Trump casually discussed classified information about nuclear submarines.
The New York Times reported on the leaked audio as well and reported:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/22/us/politics/anthony-pratt-donald-trump.html
The private comments, captured while Mr. Trump was still president, provide a rare glimpse into how a businessman on the other side of Mr. Trump’s transactions actually viewed the New York real estate developer’s tactics — with a mix of blunt acknowledgment and admiration for someone so willing to test the boundaries of the presidency.
On the recordings, Mr. Pratt recounts how Mr. Trump shared with him in December 2019 what he describes as elements of a conversation the president had with Iraq’s leader right after a U.S. military strike there aimed at Iranian-backed forces. Days later, a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad would kill Iran’s top security and intelligence commander.
At one point, Mr. Pratt said, Mr. Trump discussed the phone call he had with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine earlier that year that had helped lead to Mr. Trump’s first impeachment. “That was nothing compared to what I usually do,” Mr. Trump said, in Mr. Pratt’s recounting.
It is not clear whether Mr. Pratt shared these accounts with prosecutors or whether prosecutors are aware of the recordings.
“Behind closed doors, however, Mr. Pratt described Mr. Trump’s business practices as being “like the mafia,” the NY Times report, as well as the allegation that Trump asked his wife, then First Lady. Melania Trump, to parade around the pool at Mar-a-Lago in a bikini “so all the other guys could get a look at what they were missing.”
Further, Pratt claimed Trump was extremely candid in his assessment of his infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — which the former president has publicly described as “perfect”
From the Times:
At one point, Mr. Pratt said, Mr. Trump discussed the phone call he had with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine earlier that year that had helped lead to Mr. Trump’s first impeachment. “That was nothing compared to what I usually do,” Mr. Trump said, in Mr. Pratt’s recounting.
Watch above via 60 Minutes Australia
It is not clear whether Mr. Pratt shared these accounts with prosecutors or whether prosecutors are aware of the recordings.
The post BREAKING: Leaked Audio of Australian Billionaire Talking Trump Secrets Released By 60 Minutes Australia first appeared on Mediaite
https://www.mediaite.com/news/breaking-leaked-audio-of-australian-billionaire-talking-trump-secrets-released-by-60-minutes-australia/
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/EIzb3KOQWKQuok9pGHH4Ww--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTc2ODtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_week_574/c8fe6faa2e4802795a1cf1129b8fcafb
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/6fa9V9UbjldEicndxCnIuw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTcwNztjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_week_574/0e776e45cf5085960606c8e8fe78ca80
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Z7EMGPlCr6m3XPCmn4nwuw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY5ODtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_week_574/e776ce88da2c6b89cf1b60d5350dba23
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/4Ug1I2RkngNAzszol_LG4g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MDtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_week_574/e822dcae4faa369a6bd1d05803207f01
Alex Jones must pay $1.1 billion of Sandy Hook damages despite bankruptcy - court
Story by By Dietrich Knauth • 2h
Infowars founder Alex Jones arrives to speak to the media after appearing at his Sandy Hook defamation trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S., October 4, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
© Thomson Reuters
By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones cannot use his personal bankruptcy to escape paying at least $1.1 billion in defamation damages stemming from his repeated lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday.
Bankruptcy can be used to wipe out debts and legal judgments, but not if they result from "willful or malicious injury" caused by the debtor, according to a decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston, Texas.
Courts in Connecticut and Texas have already ruled that Jones intentionally defamed relatives of school children killed in the mass shooting, and they have ordered Jones to pay $1.5 billion in damages.
Lopez ruled that more than $1.1 billion of those verdicts, awarded for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, cannot be wiped away in bankruptcy. But he ruled that other parts of the verdicts, including $324 million in attorneys' fees that were awarded as punitive damages in the Connecticut case, could possibly be discharged.
It was not clear whether those punitive damages were attributable to "willful" and "malicious" lies, or whether they could instead be attributed to merely "reckless" conduct, Lopez wrote. Lopez said he will hold a trial to sort out the precise amount of the damages that could be discharged.
Attorneys for Jones and the Sandy Hook families did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jones' attorneys had argued that he had not lied and that his conduct was not malicious, saying in court papers that Jones "never said something on air that he did not believe to be true."
Jones claimed for years that the 2012 killing of 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was staged with actors as part of a government plot to seize Americans’ guns. He has since acknowledged the shooting occurred, but plaintiffs said Jones cashed in for years off his lies about the massacre.
Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy protection in December and July last year, respectively.
Jones could face two more defamation trials for plaintiffs who have not yet received a final judgment in their cases.
Lopez ruled Thursday that Jones could not escape the damages to be awarded in one of those cases because Jones has already been found liable for defaming Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose six-year-old son Noah was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. Jones falsely said that Veronique De La Rosa was an actor who "faked" a CNN interview about her son's death.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; editing by Diane Craft, David Gregorio, Alexia Garamfalvi and Rod Nickel)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/alex-jones-must-pay-1-1-billion-of-sandy-hook-damages-despite-bankruptcy-court/ar-AA1ixaHF?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=069f4b07ee2e4f52981f5916e0eec573&ei=9
WHAT IS GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE?
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https://climate.nasa.gov/
WHAT IS GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE?
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Biden proposes a ban on 'junk fees' — from concert tickets to hotel rooms
October 11, 2023 4:36 PM ET
By Joe Hernandez
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on hidden junk fees during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, in Washington.
Evan Vucci/AP
Many consumers are no strangers to added and surprise fees, from buying airline tickets to renting a car or ordering takeout.
These pesky charges are the target of new actions announced Wednesday by the Biden administration, which hopes to stamp out so-called "junk fees" and make it easier for buyers to know what they're paying and why.
"Folks are ... tired of being taken advantage of, and being played for suckers," Biden said in remarks at the White House.
"These junk fees may not matter to the wealthy," he added, "but they sure matter to working folks in homes like the one I grew up in."
One sweeping measure announced Wednesday is a rule proposed by the Federal Trade Commission that would block companies throughout the economy from charging hidden and "bogus" fees, forcing sellers to disclose all mandatory costs up front.
The FTC could charge companies financial penalties for violating the rule, which backers say would allow consumers to compare prices more easily and level the playing field for businesses that display their total costs in advance.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also ordering banks and credit unions to provide customers with basic information — such as their account balances — without charging fees.
Later this month, the CFPB will propose a separate rule that would force financial institutions to allow customers to easily share their information with other banks if they want to switch, the White House added.
Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that the Biden administration's crackdown on "junk fees" would harm consumers.
"Every minute of every day, Americans engage in close to 400,000 transactions, buying and selling goods and services," Bradley said. "It is baffling that the administration believes it is going to help consumers by regulating how businesses price all of those transactions."
But consumer advocates applauded the administration's actions on the fees, which officials estimate cost buyers more than $64 billion each year.
"It is clear that Americans across party lines are tired of being scammed and forced into paying worthless junk fees," Erin Witte, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America, said in a statement. Witte added that "junk fees" disproportionately affect low-income consumers and communities of color.
Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, said in a statement that the organization would review the FTC rule but that it "supports creating a single standard for mandatory fee display across the lodging industry – from short-term rental platforms, where fees are most prevalent, to online travel agencies, metasearch sites, and hotels."
Earlier this year, Biden used part of his State of the Union speech to urge lawmakers to pass the Junk Fees Prevention Act, proposed legislation that would limit the excessive fees charged by companies.
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/11/1205164556/junk-fees-biden-white-house-rules
What’s happening in Israel and Gaza? What is Hamas? A really simple guide
Published 10 hours ago
The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October, with its fighters entering communities near the Gaza Strip, killing hundreds of people, and taking dozens of hostages.
What is the background to the group and its latest attack?
Follow LIVE: Latest updates: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-middle-east-67073970
What is Hamas?
[...]
What is the Gaza Strip and why is it important?
[...]
What is Palestine?
[...]
Why did Hamas launch its latest attack?
[...]
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67039975
Who’s running for president? See a rundown of the 2024 candidates
By MEG KINNARD
Updated 6:27 PM CDT, October 9, 2023
Another Republican presidential candidate has dropped out of the crowded 2024 field.
Former Texas congressman Will Hurd announced Monday that he was leaving the race and endorsing rival Nikki Haley. He said the need to rally around one candidate to defeat former President Donald Trump had become increasingly clear.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was the first GOP candidate to leave the race, announcing his departure in August. He did not make an endorsement on his way out of the race.
Also on Monday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would end his Democratic bid for the White House and run as an independent.
Here’s a look at the candidates competing for the Republican and Democratic nominations, as well as the third-party contenders:
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY FIELD
DONALD TRUMP
The former president announced his third campaign for the White House on Nov. 15 at his Mar-a-Lago resort, forcing the party to again decide whether to embrace a candidate whose refusal to accept defeat in 2020 sparked the U.S. Capitol attack and still dominates his speeches.
The GOP front-runner remains hugely popular in the Republican Party, despite making history as the first president to be impeached twice and inciting the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Referring to himself as America’s “most pro-life president,” Trump’s three nominations of conservative judges to the Supreme Court paved the way for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which had legalized abortion nationwide for nearly 50 years. Sweeping criminal justice reforms he signed into law in 2019 eased mandatory minimum sentences and gave judges more discretion in sentencing.
In March, Trump became the first former U.S. president to be criminally charged, facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a hush money scheme. Since then, he has been charged with 57 more felonies in three other criminal cases, accused of mishandling and unlawfully retaining classified documents and trying to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election.
RON DESANTIS
The Florida governor officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign on May 24 in a glitch-marred Twitter announcement, casting himself as Trump’s only legitimate Republican rival.
Heralding his state as a place “where woke goes to die,” DeSantis has framed his campaign around a desire to bring the conservative policies he championed in Florida to the national stage. He has made a name for himself battling with Disney over the entertainment giant’s opposition to a bill dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans instruction or classroom discussion of LGBTQ issues in Florida public schools for all grades.
Under his governorship, the state has also banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and blocked public colleges from using federal or state funding on diversity programs.
But DeSantis has struggled in recent months, with Republican support for him nationally slipping substantially from its high point earlier this year.
MIKE PENCE
The former vice president opened his White House bid on June 7 in Iowa with forceful criticism of Trump, accusing his onetime boss of abandoning conservative principles and arguing Trump’s Jan. 6 action and inaction amounted to a dereliction of duty.
While lauding the accomplishments of the “Trump-Pence administration,” Pence has said Trump endangered the vice president’s family and the lives of everyone at the U.S. Capitol by falsely insisting that Pence had the power to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
He faces an uphill battle in a party in which Trump remains the most dominant figure.
TIM SCOTT
The South Carolina senator launched his campaign May 22 in his hometown of North Charleston with what he’s casting as an optimistic and compassionate message that can serve as a contrast with the rest of the field.
The Senate’s sole Black Republican, Scott has rejected the notion that the country is inherently racist and repudiated the teaching of critical race theory. He has said his party and the country are at a crossroads and must choose between “victimhood or victory.”
NIKKI HALEY
The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor became the first major GOP challenger to Trump when she kicked off her campaign on Feb. 15 in Charleston. She is the only woman in the GOP field.
The former Trump Cabinet official once said she wouldn’t challenge her former boss for the White House in 2024. But she changed her mind, citing the country’s economic troubles and the need for “generational change,” a nod to the 77-year-old Trump’s age.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY
The wealthy biotech entrepreneur and author of “Woke, Inc.” kicked off his presidential campaign on Feb. 21 with a video and op-ed.
The son of Indian immigrants, he has gained stature in conservative circles for his criticism of the environmental, social and corporate governance movement that aims to promote socially responsible investing. He has largely self-funded his campaign so far.
CHRIS CHRISTIE
The former two-term New Jersey governor went after Trump when announcing his presidential campaign on June 6 in New Hampshire, calling the former president a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog” and arguing that he’s the only one who can stop him.
Christie, a 2016 presidential candidate and former Trump adviser, has said that others may be afraid to challenge the former president, but he has no such qualms. “The reason I’m going after Trump is twofold,” Christie said. “One, he deserves it. And two, it’s the way to win.”
ASA HUTCHINSON
The former two-term Arkansas governor launched his presidential campaign on April 26 in Bentonville, pledging to “bring out the best of America” and to reform federal law enforcement agencies.
He announced his campaign shortly after Trump was indicted by a grand jury in New York and has called for the former president to drop out of the race, saying, “The office is more important than any individual person.”
DOUG BURGUM
The two-term North Dakota governor announced his candidacy on June 7 in Fargo. A former computer software entrepreneur, he is known to few outside his home state but portrays himself as a commonsense, rural-state conservative experienced in energy policy.
LARRY ELDER
The conservative talk radio host announced his campaign on April 20 on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” He made his first bid for public office in 2021 in a failed effort to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a recall election.
PERRY JOHNSON
Johnson launched his campaign March 3. The businessman tried to run for Michigan governor in 2022 but didn’t make the ballot after the state’s elections bureau determined his campaign filed thousands of fraudulent nominating signatures. He ran an ad during this year’s Super Bowl targeting voters in Iowa, the first state to vote on the GOP presidential field.
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FIELD
JOE BIDEN
President Joe Biden formally announced his reelection campaign on April 25 in a video, asking voters for time to “finish this job.”
Biden, the oldest president in America history, would be 86 at the end of a second term, and his age has prompted some of his critics to question whether he can serve effectively. A notable swath of Democratic voters has indicated they would prefer he not run, though he is expected to easily win the Democratic nomination.
Biden, who has vowed to “restore the soul of America,” plans to run on his record. He spent his first two years as president combating the coronavirus pandemic and pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan infrastructure package and legislation to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate measures.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
Self-help author Marianne Williamson entered the Democratic primary on March 4 in Washington, calling for “a vision of justice and love that is so powerful that it will override the forces of hatred and injustice and fear.”
During her unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, she proposed the creation of a Department of Peace and argued the federal government should pay large financial reparations to Black Americans as atonement for centuries of slavery and discrimination.
INDEPENDENT BIDS
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
The bestselling author and environmental lawyer announced Monday that he was ending his Democratic presidential bid and instead launching an independent run.
A nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, he initially launched a long-shot bid to challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination on April 19 in Boston. He said in announcing his party switch that he intended to be a spoiler candidate for both Biden and Trump.
Kennedy has emerged as one of the leading voices of the anti-vaccine movement, with public health experts and even members of his own family describing his work as misleading and dangerous. He has also been linked to far-right figures in recent years.
CORNEL WEST
The progressive activist and scholar announced last week that he was ending his bid for the presidency under the Green Party banner and was instead running as an independent.
West wrote on X that he was running as an independent to “end the iron grip of the ruling class and ensure true democracy!” He added, “We need to break the grip of the duopoly and give power to the people.”
___
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-presidential-candidates-191593679f2f6ea2debf521df4453a9c
Who’s running for president? See a rundown of the 2024 candidates
By MEG KINNARD
Updated 6:27 PM CDT, October 9, 2023
Another Republican presidential candidate has dropped out of the crowded 2024 field.
Former Texas congressman Will Hurd announced Monday that he was leaving the race and endorsing rival Nikki Haley. He said the need to rally around one candidate to defeat former President Donald Trump had become increasingly clear.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was the first GOP candidate to leave the race, announcing his departure in August. He did not make an endorsement on his way out of the race.
Also on Monday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would end his Democratic bid for the White House and run as an independent.
Here’s a look at the candidates competing for the Republican and Democratic nominations, as well as the third-party contenders:
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY FIELD
DONALD TRUMP
The former president announced his third campaign for the White House on Nov. 15 at his Mar-a-Lago resort, forcing the party to again decide whether to embrace a candidate whose refusal to accept defeat in 2020 sparked the U.S. Capitol attack and still dominates his speeches.
The GOP front-runner remains hugely popular in the Republican Party, despite making history as the first president to be impeached twice and inciting the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Referring to himself as America’s “most pro-life president,” Trump’s three nominations of conservative judges to the Supreme Court paved the way for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which had legalized abortion nationwide for nearly 50 years. Sweeping criminal justice reforms he signed into law in 2019 eased mandatory minimum sentences and gave judges more discretion in sentencing.
In March, Trump became the first former U.S. president to be criminally charged, facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a hush money scheme. Since then, he has been charged with 57 more felonies in three other criminal cases, accused of mishandling and unlawfully retaining classified documents and trying to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election.
RON DESANTIS
The Florida governor officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign on May 24 in a glitch-marred Twitter announcement, casting himself as Trump’s only legitimate Republican rival.
Heralding his state as a place “where woke goes to die,” DeSantis has framed his campaign around a desire to bring the conservative policies he championed in Florida to the national stage. He has made a name for himself battling with Disney over the entertainment giant’s opposition to a bill dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans instruction or classroom discussion of LGBTQ issues in Florida public schools for all grades.
Under his governorship, the state has also banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and blocked public colleges from using federal or state funding on diversity programs.
But DeSantis has struggled in recent months, with Republican support for him nationally slipping substantially from its high point earlier this year.
MIKE PENCE
The former vice president opened his White House bid on June 7 in Iowa with forceful criticism of Trump, accusing his onetime boss of abandoning conservative principles and arguing Trump’s Jan. 6 action and inaction amounted to a dereliction of duty.
While lauding the accomplishments of the “Trump-Pence administration,” Pence has said Trump endangered the vice president’s family and the lives of everyone at the U.S. Capitol by falsely insisting that Pence had the power to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
He faces an uphill battle in a party in which Trump remains the most dominant figure.
TIM SCOTT
The South Carolina senator launched his campaign May 22 in his hometown of North Charleston with what he’s casting as an optimistic and compassionate message that can serve as a contrast with the rest of the field.
The Senate’s sole Black Republican, Scott has rejected the notion that the country is inherently racist and repudiated the teaching of critical race theory. He has said his party and the country are at a crossroads and must choose between “victimhood or victory.”
NIKKI HALEY
The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor became the first major GOP challenger to Trump when she kicked off her campaign on Feb. 15 in Charleston. She is the only woman in the GOP field.
The former Trump Cabinet official once said she wouldn’t challenge her former boss for the White House in 2024. But she changed her mind, citing the country’s economic troubles and the need for “generational change,” a nod to the 77-year-old Trump’s age.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY
The wealthy biotech entrepreneur and author of “Woke, Inc.” kicked off his presidential campaign on Feb. 21 with a video and op-ed.
The son of Indian immigrants, he has gained stature in conservative circles for his criticism of the environmental, social and corporate governance movement that aims to promote socially responsible investing. He has largely self-funded his campaign so far.
CHRIS CHRISTIE
The former two-term New Jersey governor went after Trump when announcing his presidential campaign on June 6 in New Hampshire, calling the former president a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog” and arguing that he’s the only one who can stop him.
Christie, a 2016 presidential candidate and former Trump adviser, has said that others may be afraid to challenge the former president, but he has no such qualms. “The reason I’m going after Trump is twofold,” Christie said. “One, he deserves it. And two, it’s the way to win.”
ASA HUTCHINSON
The former two-term Arkansas governor launched his presidential campaign on April 26 in Bentonville, pledging to “bring out the best of America” and to reform federal law enforcement agencies.
He announced his campaign shortly after Trump was indicted by a grand jury in New York and has called for the former president to drop out of the race, saying, “The office is more important than any individual person.”
DOUG BURGUM
The two-term North Dakota governor announced his candidacy on June 7 in Fargo. A former computer software entrepreneur, he is known to few outside his home state but portrays himself as a commonsense, rural-state conservative experienced in energy policy.
LARRY ELDER
The conservative talk radio host announced his campaign on April 20 on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” He made his first bid for public office in 2021 in a failed effort to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a recall election.
PERRY JOHNSON
Johnson launched his campaign March 3. The businessman tried to run for Michigan governor in 2022 but didn’t make the ballot after the state’s elections bureau determined his campaign filed thousands of fraudulent nominating signatures. He ran an ad during this year’s Super Bowl targeting voters in Iowa, the first state to vote on the GOP presidential field.
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FIELD
JOE BIDEN
President Joe Biden formally announced his reelection campaign on April 25 in a video, asking voters for time to “finish this job.”
Biden, the oldest president in America history, would be 86 at the end of a second term, and his age has prompted some of his critics to question whether he can serve effectively. A notable swath of Democratic voters has indicated they would prefer he not run, though he is expected to easily win the Democratic nomination.
Biden, who has vowed to “restore the soul of America,” plans to run on his record. He spent his first two years as president combating the coronavirus pandemic and pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan infrastructure package and legislation to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate measures.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
Self-help author Marianne Williamson entered the Democratic primary on March 4 in Washington, calling for “a vision of justice and love that is so powerful that it will override the forces of hatred and injustice and fear.”
During her unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, she proposed the creation of a Department of Peace and argued the federal government should pay large financial reparations to Black Americans as atonement for centuries of slavery and discrimination.
INDEPENDENT BIDS
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
The bestselling author and environmental lawyer announced Monday that he was ending his Democratic presidential bid and instead launching an independent run.
A nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, he initially launched a long-shot bid to challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination on April 19 in Boston. He said in announcing his party switch that he intended to be a spoiler candidate for both Biden and Trump.
Kennedy has emerged as one of the leading voices of the anti-vaccine movement, with public health experts and even members of his own family describing his work as misleading and dangerous. He has also been linked to far-right figures in recent years.
CORNEL WEST
The progressive activist and scholar announced last week that he was ending his bid for the presidency under the Green Party banner and was instead running as an independent.
West wrote on X that he was running as an independent to “end the iron grip of the ruling class and ensure true democracy!” He added, “We need to break the grip of the duopoly and give power to the people.”
___
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-presidential-candidates-191593679f2f6ea2debf521df4453a9c
September sizzled to records and was so much warmer than average scientists call it ‘mind-blowing’
By SETH BORENSTEIN
Updated 9:23 PM CDT, October 4, 2023
After a summer of record-smashing heat, warming somehow got even worse in September as Earth set a new mark for how far above normal temperatures were, the European climate agency reported Thursday.
https://apnews.com/article/un-hottest-summer-climate-change-b7c7936070952da781af01288607b1f1
https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment
Last month’s average temperature was 0.93 degrees Celsius (1.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1991-2020 average for September. That’s the warmest margin above average for a month in 83 years of records kept by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
“It’s just mind-blowing really,” said Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo. “Never seen anything like that in any month in our records.”
While July and August had hotter raw temperatures because they are warmer months on the calendar, September had what scientists call the biggest anomaly, or departure from normal. Temperature anomalies are crucial pieces of data in a warming world.
“This is not a fancy weather statistic,” Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto said in an email. “It’s a death sentence for people and ecosystems. It destroys assets, infrastructure, harvest.”
Copernicus calculated that the average temperature for September was 16.38 degrees Celsius (61.48 degrees Fahrenheit), which broke the old record set in September 2020 by a whopping half-degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s a huge margin in climate records.
The hot temperatures stretched across the globe but they were chiefly driven by persistent and unusual warmth in the world’s oceans, which didn’t cool off as much in September as normal and have been record hot since spring, said Buontempo.
Earth is on track for its hottest year on record, about 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Samantha Burgess, Copernicus’ deputy director.
This past September was 1.75 degrees Celsius (3.15 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the mid-1800s, Copernicus reported. The world agreed in 2015 to try to limit future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warming since pre-industrial times.
The global threshold goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius is for long-term temperature averages, not a single month or year. But scientists still expressed grave concern at the records being set.
“What we’re seeing right now is the backdrop of rapid global warming at a pace that the Earth has not seen in eons coupled with El Nino, natural climate cycle” that’s a temporary warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide, said U.S. climate scientist Jessica Moerman, who is also president of the Evangelical Environmental Network. “This double whammy together is where things get dangerous.”
Though El Nino is playing a part, climate change has a bigger footprint in this warmth, Buontempo said.
“There really is no end in sight given new oil and gas reserves are still being opened for exploitation,” Otto said. “If you have more record hot events, there is no respite for humans and nature, no time to recover.”
Buontempo said El Nino is likely to get warmer and cause even higher temperatures next year.
“This month was, in my professional opinion as a climate scientist – absolutely gobsmackingly bananas,” climate scientist Zeke Hausfather said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
___
Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/Climate
https://apnews.com/article/record-hot-climate-change-el-nino-copernicus-1d80d23b98efd62d20b79f83619dfb82
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September sizzled to records and was so much warmer than average scientists call it ‘mind-blowing’
By SETH BORENSTEIN
Updated 9:23 PM CDT, October 4, 2023
After a summer of record-smashing heat, warming somehow got even worse in September as Earth set a new mark for how far above normal temperatures were, the European climate agency reported Thursday.
https://apnews.com/article/un-hottest-summer-climate-change-b7c7936070952da781af01288607b1f1
https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment
Last month’s average temperature was 0.93 degrees Celsius (1.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1991-2020 average for September. That’s the warmest margin above average for a month in 83 years of records kept by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
“It’s just mind-blowing really,” said Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo. “Never seen anything like that in any month in our records.”
While July and August had hotter raw temperatures because they are warmer months on the calendar, September had what scientists call the biggest anomaly, or departure from normal. Temperature anomalies are crucial pieces of data in a warming world.
“This is not a fancy weather statistic,” Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto said in an email. “It’s a death sentence for people and ecosystems. It destroys assets, infrastructure, harvest.”
Copernicus calculated that the average temperature for September was 16.38 degrees Celsius (61.48 degrees Fahrenheit), which broke the old record set in September 2020 by a whopping half-degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s a huge margin in climate records.
The hot temperatures stretched across the globe but they were chiefly driven by persistent and unusual warmth in the world’s oceans, which didn’t cool off as much in September as normal and have been record hot since spring, said Buontempo.
Earth is on track for its hottest year on record, about 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Samantha Burgess, Copernicus’ deputy director.
This past September was 1.75 degrees Celsius (3.15 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the mid-1800s, Copernicus reported. The world agreed in 2015 to try to limit future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warming since pre-industrial times.
The global threshold goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius is for long-term temperature averages, not a single month or year. But scientists still expressed grave concern at the records being set.
“What we’re seeing right now is the backdrop of rapid global warming at a pace that the Earth has not seen in eons coupled with El Nino, natural climate cycle” that’s a temporary warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide, said U.S. climate scientist Jessica Moerman, who is also president of the Evangelical Environmental Network. “This double whammy together is where things get dangerous.”
Though El Nino is playing a part, climate change has a bigger footprint in this warmth, Buontempo said.
“There really is no end in sight given new oil and gas reserves are still being opened for exploitation,” Otto said. “If you have more record hot events, there is no respite for humans and nature, no time to recover.”
Buontempo said El Nino is likely to get warmer and cause even higher temperatures next year.
“This month was, in my professional opinion as a climate scientist – absolutely gobsmackingly bananas,” climate scientist Zeke Hausfather said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
___
Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/Climate
https://apnews.com/article/record-hot-climate-change-el-nino-copernicus-1d80d23b98efd62d20b79f83619dfb82
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