#greta thunberg’s speech before congress

[annarubys]

everything wrong with me can be explained by the fact that i only use youtube when i don’t feel like committing to an episode of tv (takes too long) but my ideal youtube video length is 20-30 minutes and i spend at least another 15 minutes during every use adding hour long essays to my watch later

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from the New York Times:

Katta O’Donnell grew up with a fear of fire. As a child, she remembers burning bark falling from the air because of wildfires. This year, she worried that the blazes sweeping across regional Australia, fueled by climate change, could destroy her home outside Melbourne, the same way they had turned thousands of acres into ash.

Now, Ms. O’Donnell, 23, is leading a class-action lawsuit filed on Wednesday that accuses the Australian government of failing to disclose the material risks of climate change to those investing in government bonds. The suit accuses the government and the treasury of breaching its duty by not disclosing the risks of global warming and their material impact on investors.

It is the first time, experts say, that such a climate change case has been brought against a sovereign nation.

Ms. O’Donnell is joining a wave of young climate activists who have stepped on to the world stage in recent years. The Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, for example, has spurred a global protest movement, testified before the United States Congress and the European Parliament, scolded world leaders in a fiery speech at the United Nations for not doing enough and sounded that alarm at the World Economic Forum in Davos, declaring, “Our house is still on fire.”

[pinkonblonde]

Strange World: The Radical Rhetoric of Greta Thunberg

[A version of this piece was published by Green Left on 8 January, 2020.]

On Friday, 20 August, 2018, rather than go to school, Greta Thunberg sat outside Swedish parliament to protest inaction on climate change. The then-fifteen-year-old school student had with her some flyers, and a handpainted wooden sign that read: “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (school strike for the climate). On the first day of her strike, she sat alone, but news of her protest quickly spread via social media. On the second day, others joined her, and so began a youth-led protest movement comprised of millions around the world who have taken to the streets to demand a liveable future.1

If Thunberg’s act of civil disobedience attracted considerable interest, her gifts as a public communicator, evident in numerous speeches given in the intervening months, have merely served to magnify her spotlight. These speeches were gathered and published last May as No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference. In late 2019, the book was reissued in expanded editions 2019 to include speeches delivered by Thunberg between May and September.

Much of Thunberg’s activism involves pointing out what, in the midst of Australia’s nightmarish bushfire season, is now horrifyingly apparent: climate change is not merely happening but is a genuine global emergency requiring unprecedented action. Obstructing urgent progress, she points out, is widespread ignorance of the extent of the crisis. Beginning with our politicians and the media, this ignorance spreads, infecting the populace.

Although we are witnessing its effects all around us, however, Thunberg observes that “there are no headlines, no emergency meetings, no breaking news” regarding climate change itself. “No one is acting as if we were in a crisis.”2 We need to take immediate action to end greenhouse gas emissions by shifting to renewable energy sources. The emission curve, she explains, is the only thing that matters.

And the curve only continues to rise.3

António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, has deemed climate change “a direct existential threat” and “the defining issue of our time.”4 The Paris Agreement, an international treaty forming part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, was established in 2016, under which countries pledged to keep the rise in global average temperatures “well below 2°C” while “pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”5

Achieving the 1.5 degree target is critical, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says doing so “would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being.” However, this “would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society,” with “the next few years [being] probably the most important in our history.”6

We have already surpassed 1 degree of warming.7 Yet, much of the world is embarked upon a business-as-usual trajectory, with few if any countries having so far demonstrated a readiness to undertake the unprecedented, transformative changes required to secure a safe and liveable future.8

Confronting climate change therefore means recognising, as Thunberg does, that the world’s political and economic systems seem utterly incapable of solving the very crisis they have helped create. “You [politicians] … are only interested in solutions that will enable you to carry on like before,” she writes. “And those answers don’t exist any more. Because you did not act in time.”9

Thunberg prefers to define herself as a realist rather than a radical10 and resists the perception that she is political: “This is not a political text” the book’s opening speech proclaims.11 Her reluctance to be thought of in such terms is perhaps in part strategic. Her critics, eager to divert attention away from meaningful issues, characterise her as exploited, indoctrinated, and compromised by vested interests.

Eschewing labels and sticking to the science presumably allows Thunberg to safeguard her sense of independence, making it harder for others to dismiss her message as ideologically motivated. “Many people love to spread rumours saying that I have people ‘behind me’ or that I’m being ‘paid’ or ‘used’ to do what I’m doing,” she writes. “But there is no one ‘behind’ me except for myself.”12

And unlike politicians who are desperate to “talk about almost anything except for the climate crisis,” the science itself is at the heart of her message. “We [young activists] don’t have any other manifestos or demands—you unite behind the science, that is our demand.”13 (This point was emphasised when, after addressing the United States Congress in September, 2019, Thunberg submitted into the record a report from the IPCC in lieu of her own testimony.14)

Yet, when one considers the implications of what “unit[ing] behind the science” means for our political and economic systems, to be a realist in a time of crisis requires a willingness to consider radical alternatives. “[O]ur current economics,” she notes, “are still totally dependent on burning fossil fuels, and thereby destroying ecosystems in order to create everlasting economic growth.”15

Responsibility therefore largely rests not with the populace at large but with the corporations and the politicians who work in their interests. “[S]omeone is to blame,” she insists. “Some people—some companies and some decision-makers in particular—have known exactly what priceless values they are sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money.”16

The cause is of the crisis, in other words, is neither corruption nor aberration; rather, it is our political and economic systems running precisely as intended. “We live in a strange world,” she reflects, “where no one dares to look beyond the current political systems even though it’s clear that the answers we seek will not be found within the politics of today.” She concludes, therefore, that “maybe we should change the system itself.”17 To achieve this, Thunberg advocates “civil disobedience” tactics and “grassroots” social change.18 “It’s time to rebel,” she declares.19

In the chapter ‘I’m Too Young to Do This,’ Thunberg explains that idea of a student school strike came from phone meetings with other activists, facilitated by Bo Thorén from the group Fossil Free Dalsland. During these discussions, Thorén suggested a student strike, an idea inspired by US students who refused to return to school in the aftermath of a 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. Thunberg liked it, but the rest of the group favoured other ideas.20 “So I went on planning the school strike all by myself,” she writes, “and after that I didn’t participate in any more meetings.”21

In a tweet, meteorologist Martin Hedberg confirmed Thunberg’s account. “I participated in a phone-meeting with Greta, Bo and others in June 2018. After a while Greta concluded: ‘You are not radical enough. I have to do something myself.’ [A]nd then she hung up. She went on to do her thing, her way.”22

In speeches added to the book’s expanded editions, Thunberg emphasises the global carbon budget, which estimates the amount of fossil fuels the world can potentially consume before we breach the threshold of 1.5 degrees of warming. Citing “chapter 2, on page 108 of the SR15 IPCC report,” she notes that at current rates of consumption, we will have exhausted that budget in scarcely over eight years.23 “No other current challenge can match the importance of establishing a wide, public awareness and understanding of our our rapidly disappearing carbon budget, that should and must become our new global currency and the very heart of our future and present economics.”24

The activist, who has Asperger syndrome, believes the condition has motivated much of her work, explaining that “since I am not that good at socializing I did this instead.”25 Likewise, she believes the condition to be key in her ability to accurately assess the existential threat posed by climate change: because Thunberg sees things as “black and white,” she avoids the cognitive dissonance and doublethink necessary to be passive and complicit within a toxic system. “[T]he rest of the people … keep saying that climate change is an existential threat and the most important issue of all,” she writes. “And yet they just carry on like before.”26

Thunberg is one of the truthtellers of our age, whose use stark binary terms evokes the urgency of our times. “If the emissions have to stop, then we must stop the emissions. To me that is black or white. There are no grey areas when it comes to survival. Either we go on as a civilization or we don’t.”27

Her role role to wrest us from our collective slumber and to awaken us to the horrifying realworld consequences of endless consumption and exploitation. “I have a dream,” she declares, invoking Martin Luther King Jr. (whom she mentions by name).28

“In fact I have many dreams. But … [t]his is not the time and place for dreams. This is the moment in history when we need to be wide awake.… And yet, wherever I go I seem to be surrounded by fairytales. Business leaders, elected officials all across the political spectrum [are] spending their time telling bedtime stories that soothe us, that make us go back to sleep.… It’s time to face the reality, the facts, the science.”29

It is sadly predictable—and a testament to the topsy-turvy nature of our times—that someone so clearsighted should be regularly denounced as a tool of propaganda.30 In 2018, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, an organisation that assesses existential risk, set their metaphorical Doomsday Clock to two minutes to midnight.31 It was the nearest the clock had been set to midnight since a single previous occasion in 1953: the peak of the Cold War.32

Branding the times in which we live as the ‘new abnormal,’ the Bulletin cited, in addition to two major existential threats—the climate crisis and the proliferation of nuclear weapons—an emerging third threat: the “ongoing and intentional corruption of the information environment,” or the spread of propaganda by way of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts,’ which has undermined our capacity for rational discourse.33

Last month, citing a further deterioration in these areas, the Bulletin advanced the clock further still: to 100 seconds to midnight.34

In August, 2019, the Sun Herald columnist Andrew Bolt wrote a tawdry attack piece in which he referenced Thunberg’s mental health, calling her “deeply disturbed” and likening her to a cult leader.35

“Where are the adults?” she tweeted in response.36

A similar question was recently on the mind of the dissident intellectual Noam Chomsky as he pondered, in an interview, this “scandalous” state of affairs in which the fight for a survivable future has been left largely to teenagers. “It’s literally the case that this generation is going to have to determine whether organised human society persists,” he said. “Where’s the rest of us?”37

[The expanded edition of No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference is available in both illustrated and non-illustrated formats. Greta Thunberg’s next book, Our House Is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis is a memoir, cowritten with her family; it will be published in English in March.]

1 The “millions” figure comes from estimates of numbers at global protests in March and September of 2019. See Damian Carrington, ‘School Climate Strikes: 1.4 Million People Took Part, Say Campaigners,’ The Guardian, 19 March, 2019; Matthew Taylor, Jonathan Watts, and John Bartlett, ‘Climate Crisis: 6 Million People Join Latest Wave of Global Protests,’ The Guardian, 28 September, 2019.

2 Greta Thunberg, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, United Kingdom: Allen Lane, 2019, page 19.

3 Ibid., page 85.

4‘Secretary-General’s Remarks on Climate Change [As Delivered],’ United Nations, 10 September, 2018.

5‘Summary for Policymakers of IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C Approved by Governments,’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 8 October, 2018.

6 Ibid.

7 Myles Allen et al., ‘Frequently Asked Questions,’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2015.

8‘Climate Change Performance Index,’ Gemanwatch, NewClimate Institute, and Climate Action Network International, December, 2019; ‘Countries,’ Climate Action Tracker, accessed 9 February, 2020.

9 Thunberg, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, page 87.

10‘Interview mit Greta Thunberg: “Ich bin Realistin. Ich sehe Fakten.”’ ARD, 31 March, 2019; Sarah Kaplan and Brady Dennis, ‘Teen Activist Greta Thunberg Takes Her Youth Climate Campaign to Washington,’ The Washington Post, 14 September, 2019; Greta Thunberg, tweet, 12 December, 2019, 12:16 PM.

11 Thunberg, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, page 10.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid., page 54.

14 Somini Sengupta, ‘Greta Thunberg, on Tour in America, Offers an Unvarnished View,’ The New York Times, 18 September, 2019.

15 Thunberg, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, page 86.

16 Ibid., page 35.

17 Ibid., pages 28, 64.

18 Ibid., pages 21, 136.

19 Ibid., page 21.

20 Ibid., pages 45–46; Wesley Lowery, ‘He Survived the Florida School Shooting. He Vows Not to Return to Classes until Gun Laws Change,’ The Washington Post, 19 February, 2018.

21 Thunberg, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, pages 45–46.

22 Martin Hedberg, tweet, 3 February, 2019, 4:13 AM.

23 Joeri Rogelj et al., ‘Mitigation Pathways Compatible with 1.5°C in the Context of Sustainable Development,’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2018, page 108; Thunberg, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, page 120.

24 Ibid., page 39.

25 Ibid., page 48.

26 Ibid., page 18.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid., pages 117, 122.

29 Ibid., pages 117–118.

30 See for instance Dinesh D’Souza, tweet, 22 September, 2019, 12:04 PM; Sebastian Gorka, tweet, 23 September, 6:04 PM; Daniel Lee, ‘Greta Thunberg and Samantha Smith: Propaganda Poster Girls,’ National Review, 2 October, 2019.

31‘It Is Now 2 Minutes to Midnight,’ The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 25 January, 2018.

32‘Timeline,’ The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, accessed 9 February, 2020.

33‘Press Release—Welcome to “The New Abnormal,”’ The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 24 January, 2019.

34‘Closer than Ever: It Is 100 Seconds to Midnight,’ The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 23 January, 2020.

35 Andrew Bolt, ‘The Disturbing Secret to the Cult of Greta Thunberg,’ The Sun-Herald, 1 August, 2019.

36 Greta Thunberg, tweet, 1 August, 2019.

37 Noam Chomsky, ‘8.0,’ YouTube, uploaded by Thomas Pogge, 4 November, 2019.

[opedguy]

Thunberg Steals the Show in Davos

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), Jan. 22, 2020.--Eclipsed by 17-year-old Swedish climate-change activist Greta Thunberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 73-year-old President Donald Trump kidded about the teenager beating him out for Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year.”  What irks Trump isn’t Thunberg’s prodigious capacity to steal headlines but the American press looking for anything to report but the real headlines.  To the American press, the story was about Thunberg lambasting Trump and other world leaders about the perils of climate change.  Trump said Thunberg was part of the “profits of doom,” warning the world about the dangers of burning fossil fuels.  Letting Thunberg dominate the headlines is more proof of media’s “fake news,” preferring to wasted time reporting about nonsense.  Thunberg and Trump would not be mentioned in the same breath, were it not for the ratings-driven TV networks.

            Pitting Thunberg against Trump is another David and Goliath story, letting the Asperbeger-diagnosed teenager command center stage, lecturing world leaders about the hazards of fossil fuels. Instead of discussing Europe or Japan’s negative interest rates forecasting economic slowdowns in Europe and Asia, the media prefers to focus on silly spectacles like pro-wrestling “smack-down” or, in this case, Thunberg v. Trump.  Whether in the U.S. or Europe, the global press suffers from the same bereftness, sticking to sensational headlines rather than reporting on the substance in Davos of the world’s economy.  Billionaire hedge fund managers and entrepreneurs like Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban should talk about the Federal Reserve Board’s loose monetary policies, reflecting, if nothing else, that the underlying economy remains weak, in need of extra monetary and fiscal stimulus.  

            Trump gets annoyed by Greta largely because he knows she’s an artifact of the fake news media, where selling tabloids is more important than reporting on real news. Trump’s impeachment trial qualified for more fake news, when even the most naïve viewer knows he’s heading for acquittal. If you listened to House impeachment managers, led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calilf.), you’d think Trump committed murder or grand larceny.  Democrats can’t explain how abuse of power or obstruction of Congress qualifies as an impeachable offense.  Twenty-one states attorneys generals have asked the Senate to throw out Trump’s case, on the basis that it doesn’t meet the Constitutional test of high-crimes-and-misdemeanors.  U.S. media outlets prefer to talk about Thunberg than whether or not House Democrats violated the Constitution impeaching Trump without real high-crimes-and-misdemeanors.

            Media executives are waiting for Greta’s next “How Dare You” speech last heard Sept. 19, 2019 at the U.N.  “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” Thunberg railed at the U.S. General Assembly.  “Our house is still on fire,” Geta told delegates at the World Economic Forum Jan. 21. “Empty words and promises,” Greta said, lambasting world leaders to do more about global warming.  No one questions who finances Greta or, for that matter, writes her catchy speeches, designed to guilt world leaders into doing something about climate change.  “Your inaction is fueling the flames,” Thunberg said.  How can the press argue with an autistic teenager pouring her heart out on the world stage.  There’s nothing wrong with teenage climate activists but something very wrong with a media that pits Thunberg against an American president, all for ratings.

            Winning backing from 71-year-old England’s Prince Charles, Thunberg’s perfect for the Royals who look to any headline to replace Meghan and Harry’s departure from the Family.  “Everything I have tried to do, and urge, over the past 50 years has been done with our children and grandchildren in mind” Charles said before meeting with Thunberg at Davos.  While it’s OKfor Charles to meet with a teenager, it’s not OK for him to meet with members of the EU on Britain’s Jan. 31 exit from the European Union.  No, Charles’ publicists find Thunberg getting him better publicity from Thunberg than dealing with Britain’s real problems, including what happens to the North Ireland border or the British pound sterling once Brexit’s complete.  Multinational corporations like Siemen’s CEO Joe Kaesner urged Trump to listen to Thunberg. “We have to sit together and involve them in dialogue,” Kaeser told Trump.

            Media companies get ratings promoting the false narrative between Thunberg and Trump.  If Thunberg had her way, no world leader would arrive to Davos via jet plane, something producing far too much fossil fuel pollution.  Thunberg wants to end all fossil fuels but doesn’t have an alternative anytime soon.  Trump’s not about to sail to Europe like Thunberg, who, for whatever reason, doesn’t have to earn a living while she’s a spokeswoman for the climate change movement.  “There’s no need to fall into extremes, between those who say either that there is no problem with global warming or those who lament that nothing has been done to combat it, because it’s not true—there are things that have been done,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.  Instead of ginning up the climate crisis, Davos should focus on what can be done to get Europe and Asia out of their current economic slowdown.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.  

[omgstupendousbouquetbasement]

Trump Heads to Switzerland Ahead of Impeachment Trial Presentations

With his impeachment trial in the Senate about to go into high gear, U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.  

Trump departed on Air Force One on Monday, the third anniversary of his inauguration as the 45th U.S. president.  

In Davos on Tuesday morning, Trump is to give a speech and — before returning to Washington on Wednesday afternoon — meet on the sidelines of the conference separately with several world leaders.  

On Trump's agenda, according to the White House, are talks with Iraqi President Barham Salih, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Swiss Confederation President Simonetta Sommaruga and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the president of the Kurdistan regional government, Nechirvan  Barzani.

The 3,000 participants at the invitation-only annual event will be outnumbered by nearly 5,000 military personnel and police.

A man dressed as a clown is part of hundreds of climate protesters who are on a three-day protest march from Landquart to Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 20, 2020.

Hundreds of protesters, some wearing koala bear costumes to highlight the devastating bushfires in Australia, and who want the global leaders at the forum to be more aggressive concerning climate change, headed to Davos via a hiking trail and a train after authorities banned foot traffic into the Alpine town.  

Climate and other environmental threats rank ahead of geopolitical worries and cyber attacks in an annual risks survey published last week by the World Economic Forum.  

Trump is a climate change skeptic but will share top billing at the conference with environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who will open a debate on avoiding a "climate apocalypse" two hours after the U.S. president's keynote speech.  

Trump mocked the Swedish teenager after she was named Time magazine's 2019 Person of the Year.  

"I think both voices are necessary," said WEF founder Klaus Schwab of Trump and Thunberg. "The environment will play a particularly important role during this meeting."

International trade

The invited guests, including numerous government leaders, "deserve commensurate security measures," Walter Schlegel, the regional police commander, told a news conference Monday. "The U.S. president has a big security detail that must be deployed."

Trump's presence at Davos, with more than 100 other billionaires in attendance, is "certain to spark controversy, as well as win praise in some corners," predicted Curtis Chin, a former U.S. ambassador to the Asian Development Bank.

A policeman wearing camouflage clothing stands on the rooftop of a hotel near the Congress Centre during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Jan. 20, 2020.

At his WEF appearance in 2018, "Trump declared that America First need not mean America alone. That same message will be put to the test again as Trump returns to Davos," Chin, the Milken Institute's Inaugural Asia Fellow, told VOA.  

James Jay Carafano, vice president of the institute focused on national security and foreign policy at The Heritage Foundation, said he hopes Trump spends some time at Davos looking forward on international trade.  

In the wake of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) and the first phase of a China trade deal signed, "It would be great from Trump to give another shot in the arm to economic freedom and free trade," Carafano told VOA.  

A free trade agreement with Switzerland and Taiwan would be "low hanging fruit," as well as a recommitment to a trade pact with post-Brexit Britain, according to Carafano.  

While Trump could use his Davos speech to take another jab at NATO members for commitments to not meeting goals on defense spending, Carafano said he hopes the president will positively mention the Three Seas Initiative, a 12-state initiative connecting the Adriatic, Baltic and Black seas region for economic and energy cooperation.

Impeachment trial

The president, however, is expected to keep one eye on the historic proceedings in the Senate where he is on trial on a charge of abuse of power and another of obstruction of Congress.

As the Senate impeachment trial reconvenes Tuesday afternoon — six hours ahead and 6,700 kilometers away in the Swiss Alps — Trump is scheduled to briefly dine with global business executives, but will then have ample time from his hotel suite to follow on television the proceedings on one of the most historic days of his presidency.  

Trump's legal team contends the impeachment articles brought by the House, controlled by the opposition Democrats, "are a dangerous perversion of the Constitution." His attorneys are calling for the Senate, controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans, to swiftly dismiss the charges.    

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[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/twitters-top-lawyer-vijaya-gadde-is-final-word-on-blocking-tweets-even-donald-trumps/

Twitter's Top Lawyer Vijaya Gadde Is Final Word on Blocking Tweets - Even Donald Trump's

Whenever somebody on Twitter takes issue with the network’s rules or content policies, they almost always resort to the same strategy: They send a tweet to @jack. A quick scan of Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey’s mentions show just how often he’s called upon to lay down the law for the service he helped create. But what users don’t know is that they’re imploring the wrong Twitter Inc. executive. While Dorsey is the company’s public face, and the final word on all things product and strategy, the taxing job of creating and enforcing Twitter’s rules don’t actually land on the CEO’s shoulders. Instead, that falls to Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde.

As Twitter’s head of legal and policy issues, Gadde has one of the most difficult jobs in technology: Her teams write and enforce the rules for hundreds of millions of internet users. If people break the rules, the offending tweets can be removed, users can be suspended, or in extreme cases booted off Twitter altogether. Dorsey may have to answer for Twitter’s decisions, but he’s taken a hands-off approach to creating and enforcing its content policies.

“He rarely weighs in on an individual enforcement decision,” Gadde said in a recent interview. “I can’t even think of a time. I usually go to him and say, ‘this is what’s going to happen.’”

That leaves Gadde, 45, as the end of the line when it comes to account enforcement — a delicate position in a world where Twitter’s rules are both an affront to free speech and an invitation to racists and bigots, depending on who’s tweeting at you. “No matter what we do we’ve been accused of bias,” Gadde said. “Leaving content up, taking content down — that’s become pretty much background noise.”

Like most corporate lawyers, Gadde generally operates in the background herself, though her influence has helped shape Twitter for most of the past decade. A graduate of Cornell University and New York University Law School, Gadde spent almost a decade at a Bay Area-based law firm working with tech startups before she joined the social-media company in 2011. Her eight-plus years at Twitter are about equal to the amount of time Dorsey has worked there over the years.

But as Twitter’s role in global politics has increased, so has Gadde’s visibility. She was in the Oval Office when Dorsey met with US President Donald Trump last year, and joined the CEO when he met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2018. When Dorsey posted a photo with the Dalai Lama from that trip, Gadde stood between the two men, holding the Dalai Lama’s hand. InStyle just put her on “The Badass 50,” an annual list of women changing the world. “Vijaya defines the word,” tweeted Twitter Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland.

When Gadde first joined Twitter, the internet was a different place. At the time, a lot of politicians were just getting familiar with the platform. Trump primarily used his Twitter to share announcements about his TV appearances (though this would quickly change). The official presidential account, @POTUS, wouldn’t even come into existence until 2015, under then-President Barack Obama.

When Gadde took over as general counsel in 2013, the social-media service had an “everything goes” mentality. A year prior, one of Twitter’s product managers in the U.K. famously said that Twitter viewed itself as “the free speech wing of the free speech party,” a label later repeated by then-CEO Dick Costolo. The company simply “let the tweets flow,” said one former employee.

That freedom is part of what drew Gadde to Twitter in the first place. An immigrant from India, Gadde moved to the US as a child and grew up in east Texas, where her dad worked as a chemical engineer on oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico, before moving to New Jersey in middle school. “I was the only Indian child most of my education until I went to college,” she says now. “You feel voiceless. And I think that that’s kind of what drew me to Twitter — this platform that gives you a voice, and gives you a community and gives you power.”

Twitter’s commitment to giving everyone a voice, though, has also come with a general reluctance to take it away. Twitter’s decisions in recent years to ban certain users, including conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and far-right media troll Milo Yiannopoulos, were news in part because Twitter’s decisions to act were so uncharacteristic. Gadde acknowledges the change, saying that the company has come to realize in recent years the responsibility it has to protect the safety of its users, including when they’re not using the product. “I would say that the company has shifted its approach dramatically [since I started],” she said.

Perhaps no user presents a bigger quagmire for Gadde and her team than Trump, the platform’s most famous user, whose tweets often push the boundaries of Twitter’s rules. The president’s habit of blasting messages to his 70.9 million followers has taken on a new vigor thanks to a looming impeachment trial and re-election bid. Following the US drone strike in early January that killed a top Iranian general, Trump threatened Iran with military force in a number of tweets, including the targeting of cultural sites. That prompted many observers, including some former Twitter employees, to ask why he hadn’t been suspended — a cycle that has played out several times following other Trump tirades.

Last month, Trump attacked his Democratic rivals, blasted Congress over impeachment proceedings, and even mocked teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg from his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account. According to a USA Today analysis, his tweets contain more negative language than ever. The study looked at whether Trump tweeted words with positive or negative connotations, and found he “is posting fewer tweets with words that convey joy, anticipation and trust, and more that convey anger.” Trump sent or retweeted more than 1,050 messages in December, according to Hootsuite — more than any other month since taking office.

“The way he uses social media is a reflection of just how unusual a candidate, and now a president, Trump is. A big part of that is that he breaks all the rules,” said Patrick Egan, a professor of politics and public policy at New York University. “Something that a lot of people really like about him is that he says the kind of things he’s not supposed to say, and of course that’s exactly the kind of thing that can get you into trouble on social media.”

@realDonaldTrump: Total Tweets + Retweets Inside Twitter, Trump’s tweets are a frequent topic of conversation among employees, and Gadde’s authority also means that she has the unique job of punishing the world’s most famous tweeter — should it ever come to that. “My team has the responsibility to do that with every single individual who uses Twitter, whether it’s the president of a country or it’s an activist or it’s somebody we don’t know,” she said. “I honestly do my best to treat everyone with that same degree of respect.”

Twitter has so far decided that Trump hasn’t crossed any lines, but the company is prepared for such a scenario. While it’s unlikely that Twitter would ever suspend a well-known politician – the company also has a newsworthiness policy, which means it’s less likely to take action on tweets from elected officials — it’s devised another penalty for world leaders: A warning screen unveiled last summer that hides a tweet from public view and limits its distribution, but still allows people to view the tweet with the click of a button. It’s a way to publicly acknowledge that a politician has violated Twitter’s rules while admitting what they said is too newsworthy to be taken down. “It’s preserving a record of what is said in the public interest,” Gadde explained.

The process is designed like this: A content moderator, who may be a third-party contractor, reviews a tweet that has been flagged and determines whether it violates Twitter’s rules. If they decide that it does, moderators can usually enforce punishment at this stage, but Twitter requires a second layer of review for offenders who are considered public figures — in this case, a verified politician with more than 100,000 followers, Gadde said.

The tweet is then sent to Twitter’s trust and safety team, and if they also agree that the post violates the rules, Twitter convenes a special group of employees from across the company to review it. This group, about a half-dozen people from various teams, is meant to bring in a diverse set of perspectives, Gadde explained. That panel then makes a recommendation to Del Harvey, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, and her boss, Gadde, for a final decision.

Barring some kind of emergency, using the label will ultimately be Gadde’s call. “Vijaya has a young kid still, so she’s very used to being woken up any hour, which is helpful,” Harvey joked to a group of reporters last summer.

Gadde won’t go so far as to say the new warning label was created with Trump in mind — “We try to think of these things globally and not just about the United States,” she said — but added that even though the screen, referred to internally as the Public Interest Interstitial, hasn’t been used since its debut last June, it will eventually make an appearance. Gadde said Twitter has used the newsworthiness policy a “handful” of times in the past as justification for leaving offending tweets up. But the company didn’t have the warning label back then, so the general public didn’t know anything had even been discussed behind the scenes, she said. “We know it happens, and that it will happen.”

Twitter actually pointed to this policy in September 2017 when answering questions about the decision to leave up a tweet from Trump that appeared to threaten North Korea with nuclear war. Twitter also has a policy against threats of violence. A White House spokesman, Steven Groves, declined to answer questions about Trump’s use of Twitter.

Historically, Twitter’s rules around free speech have been so lax that a number of celebrities and journalists, including singer Lizzo, actress Millie Bobby Brown and New York Times writer Maggie Haberman, have stepped away from the service — at least temporarily — with many citing bullying and harassment. US Senator Kamala Harris, a former Democratic candidate for president, thought Twitter’s enforcement weak enough that she implored the company to suspend Trump in a letter in October, saying he uses his account to obstruct justice and intimidate people, including the whistle-blower whose report ultimately led to his impeachment. Twitter responded that Trump’s tweets didn’t break the rules.

The newsworthiness exemption gives Twitter a lot of wiggle room when it comes to removing high-profile tweets, but Gadde said the point of the warning label, and the company’s attempt to explain it, are part of a broader effort to be more transparent about how and why the company makes decisions — something she admits hasn’t always been clear. As Twitter has grown, so has the company’s understanding that it can’t simply sit by and let people tweet whatever they want, Gadde said. It’s one of the many ways her job has evolved over the years.

“We’re trying to do so much more of our work in public,” she said. “I want people to trust this platform.”

© 2020 Bloomberg LP

[alexsmitposts]

Climate and the Money Trail Climate. Now who wudda thought. The very mega-corporations and mega-billionaires behind the globalization of the world economy over recent decades, whose pursuit of shareholder value and cost reduction who have wreaked so much damage to our environment both in the industrial world and in the under-developed economies of Africa, Asia, Latin America, are the leading backers of the “grass roots” decarbonization movement from Sweden to Germany to the USA and beyond. Is it pangs of guilty conscience, or could it be a deeper agenda of the financialization of the very air we breathe and more? Whatever one may believe about the dangers of CO2 and risks of global warming creating a global catastrophe of 1.5 to 2 degree Celsius average temperature rise in the next roughly 12 years, it is worth noting who is promoting the current flood of propaganda and climate activism. Green Finance Several years before Al Gore and others decided to use a young Swedish school girl to be the poster child for climate action urgency, or in the USA the call of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a complete reorganization of the economy around a Green New Deal, the giants of finance began devising schemes for steering hundreds of billions of future funds to investments in often worthless “climate” companies. In 2013 after years of careful preparation, a Swedish real estate company, Vasakronan, issued the first corporate “Green Bond.” They were followed by others including Apple, SNCF and the major French bank Credit Agricole. In November 2013 Elon Musk’s problem-riddled Tesla Energy issued the first solar asset-backed security. Today according to something called the Climate Bonds Initiative, more than $500 billion in such Green Bonds are outstanding. The creators of the bond idea state their aim is to win over a major share of the $45 trillion of assets under management globally which have made nominal commitment to invest in “climate friendly” projects. Bonnie Prince Charles, future UK Monarch, along with the Bank of England and City of London finance have promoted “green financial instruments,” led by Green Bonds, to redirect pension plans and mutual funds towards green projects. A key player in the linking of world financial institutions with the Green Agenda is outgoing Bank of England head Mark Carney. In December 2015, the Bank for International Settlements’ Financial Stability Board (FSB), chaired then by Carney, created the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), to advise “investors, lenders and insurance about climate related risks.” That was certainly a bizarre focus for world central bankers. In 2016 the TCFD along with the City of London Corporation and the UK Government initiated the Green Finance Initiative, aiming to channel trillions of dollars to “green” investments. The central bankers of the FSB nominated 31 people to form the TCFD. Chaired by billionaire Michael Bloomberg of the financial wire, it includes key people from JP MorganChase; from BlackRock–one of the world’s biggest asset managers with almost $7 trillion; Barclays Bank; HSBC, the London-Hong Kong bank repeatedly fined for laundering drug and other black funds; Swiss Re, the world’s second largest reinsurance; China’s ICBC bank; Tata Steel, ENI oil, Dow Chemical, mining giant BHP Billington and David Blood of Al Gore’s Generation Investment LLC. In effect it seems the foxes are writing the rules for the new Green Hen House. Bank of England’s Carney was also a key actor in efforts to make the City of London into the financial center of global Green Finance. The outgoing UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, in July 2019 released a White Paper, “Green Finance Strategy: Transforming Finance for a Greener Future.” The paper states, “One of the most influential initiatives to emerge is the Financial Stability Board’s private sector Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), supported by Mark Carney and chaired by Michael Bloomberg. This has been endorsed by institutions representing $118 trillion of assets globally.” There seems to be a plan here. The plan is the financialization of the entire world economy using fear of an end of world scenario to reach arbitrary aims such as “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.” Goldman Sachs Key Actor The omnipresent Wall Street bank, Goldman Sachs, which spawned among others ECB outgoing President Mario Draghi and Bank of England head Carney, has just unveiled the first global index of top-ranking environmental stocks, done along with the London-based CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project. The CDP, notably, is financed by investors such as HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, American International Group, and State Street Corp. The new index, called CDP Environment EW and CDP Eurozone EW, aims to lure investment funds, state pension systems such as the CalPERS (the California Public Employees’ Retirement System) and CalSTRS (the California State Teachers’ Retirement System) with a combined $600+ billion in assets, to invest in their carefully chosen targets. Top rated companies in the index include Alphabet which owns Google, Microsoft, ING Group, Diageo, Philips, Danone and, conveniently, Goldman Sachs. Enter Greta, AOC and Co. At this point events take on a cynical turn as we are confronted with wildly popular, heavily promoted climate activists such as Sweden’s Greta Thunberg or New York’s 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Green New Deal. However sincere these activists may be, there is a well-oiled financial machine behind promoting them for gain. Greta Thunberg is part of a well-connected network tied to the organization of Al Gore who is being cynically and professionally marketed and used by such agencies as the UN, the EU Commission and the financial interests behind the present climate agenda. As Canadian researcher and climate activist, Cory Morningstar, documents in an excellent series of posts, young Greta is working with a well-knit network that is tied to US climate investor and enormously wealthy climate profiteer, Al Gore, chairman of Generation Investment group. Gore’s partner, ex-Goldman Sachs official David Blood as noted earlier, is a member of the BIS-created TCFD. Greta Thunberg along with her 17-year-old US climate friend, Jamie Margolin, were both listed as “special youth advisor and trustee” of the Swedish We Don’t Have Time NGO, founded by its CEO Ingmar Rentzhog. Rentzhog is a member of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Organization Leaders, and part of the European Climate Policy Task Force. He was trained in March 2017 by Al Gore in Denver, and again in June 2018, in Berlin. Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project is a partner of We Don’t Have Time. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), who made a huge splash in her first days in the US Congress for unveiling a “Green New Deal” to completely reorganize the US economy at a cost of perhaps $100 trillion, is also not without skilled guidance. AOC has openly admitted that she ran for Congress at the urging of a group called Justice Democrats. She told one interviewer, “I wouldn’t be running if it wasn’t for the support of Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress. Umm, in fact it was it was these organizations, it was JD and it was Brand New Congress as well, that both, that asked me to run in the first place. They’re the ones that called me a year and a half ago…” Now, as Congresswoman, AOC’s advisers include Justice Democrats co-founder, Zack Exley. Exley was an Open Society Fellow and got funds from among others the Open Society Foundations and Ford Foundation to create a predecessor to Justice Democrats to recruit select candidates for office. The Real Agenda is Economic The links between the world’s largest financial groups, central banks and global corporations to the current push for a radical climate strategy to abandon the fossil fuel economy in favor of a vague, unexplained Green economy, it seems, is less about genuine concern to make our planet a clean and healthy environment to live. Rather it is an agenda, intimately tied to the UN Agenda 2030 for “sustainable” economy, and to developing literally trillions of dollars in new wealth for the global banks and financial giants who constitute the real powers that be. In February 2019 following a speech to the EU Commission in Brussels by Greta Thunberg, then-EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, after gallantly kissing Greta’s hand, appeared to be moved to real action. He told Greta and the press that the EU should spend hundreds of billions of euros combating climate change during the next 10 years. Juncker proposed that between 2021 to 2027, “every fourth euro spent within the EU budget go toward action to mitigate climate change.” What the sly Juncker did not say was that the decision had nothing to do with the young Swedish activist’s plea. It had been made in conjunction with the World Bank a full year before in September 26, 2018 at the One Planet Summit, along with the World Bank, Bloomberg Foundations, the World Economic Forum and others. Juncker had cleverly used the media attention given the young Swede to promote his climate agenda. On October 17, 2018, days following the EU agreement at the One Planet Summit, Juncker’s EU signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Breakthrough Energy-Europe in which member corporations of Breakthrough Energy-Europe will have preferential access to any funding. The members of Breakthrough Energy include Virgin Air’s Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, HRH Prince Al-waleed bin Talal, Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio; Julian Robertson of hedge fund giant, Tiger Management; David Rubenstein, founder Carlyle Group; George Soros, Chairman Soros Fund Management LLC; Masayoshi Son, founder Softbank, Japan. Make no mistake. When the most influential multinational corporations, the world’s largest institutional investors including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, the UN, the World Bank, the Bank of England and other central banks of the BIS line up behind the financing of a so-called green Agenda, call it Green New Deal or what, it is time to look behind the surface of public climate activist campaigns to the actual agenda. The picture that emerges is the attempted financial reorganization of the world economy using climate, something the sun and its energy have orders of magnitude more to do with than mankind ever could—to try to convince us ordinary folk to make untold sacrifice to “save our planet.” Back in 2010 the head of Working Group 3 of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr Otmar Edenhofer, told an interviewer, “…one must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole.” Since then the economic policy strategy has become far more developed.

[itsfinancethings]

This essay is adapted from the transcript of a radio program produced for Swedish Radio and broadcast in June. This is the first time the text has been published in its entirety.

Chapter 1: UN speech and New York

The first thing I see when I enter the United Nations Headquarters building in New York City is Roxy. My dog. The two of us are projected onto a large screen which apparently is part of an international art exhibition. When I see her brown labrador eyes it almost feels as if she was right here with me. Suddenly I’m reminded of how much I miss her.

Today is Sept. 23, 2019, and it’s now been 7 weeks since I boarded the train in Stockholm and began my journey. I have no clue of how and when I’m going to get back home. 3 weeks have passed since the boat Malizia sailed into New York City’s harbour and left the peaceful, constrained life on the ocean. After 14 days at sea we sailed past the Statue of Liberty, stepped ashore in Manhattan and took the red subway line uptown towards Central Park. My sea legs were shaking and all the impressions from people, scents, and noises became almost impossible to take in.

Courtesy of Greta ThunbergThunberg arrives in New York City after a 15-day journey crossing the Atlantic on Aug. 28, 2019.

The time in New York has been surreal. If the media attention was big in Europe, it’s nothing compared to how it is here. A year ago the thought of seeing pictures of my dog inside the UN would have been unthinkable. Now it’s nothing strange at all. I see myself everywhere. Just the night before one of my speeches had been projected onto the facade of the UN building. But luckily I completely lack an interest in such things. If you would care about this kind of attention, then you’d probably develop a self-image that is far from sane.

It’s very hard to move inside the giant labyrinth of this building. Presidents, prime ministers, kings, and princesses, all come up to me to chat. People recognize me and suddenly see their opportunity to get a selfie which later they can post on their Instagram – with the caption #savetheplanet. Perhaps it makes them forget the shame of their generation letting all future generations down. I guess maybe it helps them to sleep at night.

In the greenroom, sitting with the other speakers, I try to read through my speech, but I constantly get interrupted by people who want to do small talk and take selfies. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres steps in. We chat for a bit, just like I’ve learnt that you’re supposed to do. I fill up my red water bottle and sit down again. Then it’s Chancellor Angela Merkel’s turn to come up, congratulate, take a picture and ask whether it’s ok for her to post it on social media. A queue starts forming. Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, waits in line but doesn’t quite make it before it’s time for the event to start.

The annual UN General Assembly week in New York City is always a big global event, but this year it was a bit extra special since the secretary general had decided that the focus would be exclusively on the climate. The expectations are huge. It has been promoted as a ‘now-or-never’ moment.

Almost all of the world’s leaders are sitting in the audience, but it’s only those with specific so-called “solutions” who have received an invitation to address the General Assembly.

The event begins with a very ambitious digital sound- and lightshow. The volume is way too high. I’m standing by the backdrop covering my ears.

”We do not accept these odds.”

That is what the speech was about, if you read it in full. And it of course alludes to our remaining carbon budget. But the only message that seems to have resonated is ”how dare you?”.

I’ve never been angry in public. I’ve barely even been angry at home. But this time I’ve decided that I have to make the most out of the speech. To address the United Nations General Assembly is something you probably only get to do once in your lifetime. So this is it. I need to say things I will be able to stand by for the rest of my life, so that I won’t look back in 60-70 years from now and regret that I didn’t say enough, that I held back. So I choose to let my emotions take control.

On the subway home I see that many in the car around me are watching the speech on their phones. Some come forward to congratulate me. Someone suggests that we should celebrate. But I don’t understand what their congratulations are for, and I understand even less what we’re supposed to be celebrating.

Yet another meeting is over. And all that is left are empty words.

Chapter 2: Washington D.C.

Who is the adult in the room? That question has been asked over and over again during the last year. But this question reaches a whole new level when I end up standing in front of the food court in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. Fast food chains. Hamburgers, candy and ice cream stores. Dunkin Donuts. Baskin Robbins. Here you find the most powerful policymakers in the world sitting in their suits, while drinking pink milkshake, eating junk food and candy.

In the week leading up to the UN General Assembly meeting I spend a few days in the nation’s capital. I use the opportunity to do the kind of things you can do when in Washington D.C. Like visit museums, protest outside the White House, speak in the United States Congress, and stuff like that. But most of the time I meet with politicians.

It gets a bit repetitive after a while. But in a way it almost feels like coming home, since politicians are pretty much the same no matter where you are in the world.

I urge them to listen to the science and act now before it’s too late. They say that they think it’s so amazing that I’m so active and committed, and that when I grow up I too can become a politician and make a real difference in the world. I then explain that when I’ve grown up and finished my education it will be too late to act if we are to stay below the 1.5°C – or even 2°C – target. After that I talk through some of the figures and numbers from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1.5°C report. Then they laugh nervously and start talking about something else.

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A group of maybe 20 young climate activists gather inside the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office. Our group mostly consists of representatives from indigenous peoples in North- and South America. From First Nation tribes and the Amazon rainforest.

On the wall hangs a big portrait of Abraham Lincoln. The atmosphere during the meeting is awkward at best. It is as if two entirely different worlds collide. Worlds separated by hundreds of years of injustices, structural and systematic racism, oppression and genocide.

At last a young activist asks to speak. Her name is Tokata Iron Eyes and she lives in Pine Ridge, an Indian reservation in South Dakota, one of the poorest and most socially vulnerable communities in the entire United States.

“How do you think it feels for us to sit here in this room with that man looking down from that painting?” she says and points to Abraham Lincoln.

Speaker Pelosi apologies if anyone has been offended but explains that he was a great man who has meant so much for their country.

“He wanted my people dead”, Tokata says. She’s referring to the executions of Dakota Indians ordered by Lincoln in 1862. “To sit here in this room with that painting… It’s just so difficult” she says.

I try to picture things from her perspective. We fight for climate justice, but how can any justice be achieved when the social and racial injustices have never been officially acknowledged in the public eye in so many parts of the world?

That same day I’m called to testify in the U.S. Congress. But it just feels wrong. What am I supposed to do or say there? I want the people in power to listen to the science, not to me. But after a lot of hesitation and consideration I figured out a way. I asked whether I could borrow a computer. I print out a copy of the IPCC’s 1.5°C report. I was ready to submit my testimony.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae1mUb5EZn0]

Afterwards I take the metro to Tenleytown and walk the 45 minute stroll to the house we’ve borrowed. The walk stretches through some of the most beautiful neighbourhoods you can possibly imagine. Every house is like a miniature castle straight out of a fairytale. Outside one of the biggest houses there’s a woman standing with her daughter, who is around the age of five. “It’s you!” the mother says when she sees me. “Can I take a picture of you together with my daughter?”

“Of course!” I answer.

When I walk away she turns facing the girl. “Greta is a climate activist, she explains. Maybe you’ll also become an activist when you grow up.” The mother says it in a way that makes climate activist appear as the most noble, cool thing in the world.

Like a mix between a ballerina, a president, and an astronaut.

Chapter 3: The science

My message is – and has always been – listen to the science, listen to the scientists.

“Which scientists?” you could of course argue. Within all scientific fields there’s a constant and never-ending debate. That’s what science is about. And climate crisis deniers and delayers love this angle. To spread doubt about whether there’s actually consensus on the scientific grounds of the climate crisis.

That argument can be used in almost all other issues, but it’s no longer possible to use here. The time for that has passed. The consensus is overwhelming. The debate around the global adoption and acceptance of the Paris Agreement and the IPCC reports is over. So what do those two things actually mean?

In Paris, the world’s governments committed themselves to keeping the global temperature rise to “well below 2°C”. But in the latest update from the IPCC – the SR1.5 report – scientists underline that 2°C is not a safe level. We have today already passed about 1.2°C of global heating, and in their report they instead stress the importance of limiting the warming to below 1.5°C. And that is to give us the best possible chance to avoid passing so-called tipping points, and start irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

So where do we start? Well I’d suggest that we do precisely what all the world’s governments have committed to do in the Paris Agreement. Which is to follow the current best available science.

And that, among other places, we find on page 108, chapter 2 in the IPCC’s SR1.5 report. Right there it says that on Jan. 1 2018 we had 420 Gt CO2 left to emit globally to have a 66% chance of staying below the 1.5° target. We emit about 42 Gt CO2 every year, including land use such as forestry and agriculture. So today we’re soon already down to lower than 300 Gt of CO2 left to emit.

That is the equivalent of less than 7.5 years of today’s ‘business as usual’ emissions until that budget completely runs out. This is the carbon budget which gives us the best odds to achieve the 1.5° target. Yes, you heard it right, less than 7.5 years.

Do you remember the London Olympics? ‘Gangnam Style’ or the first Hunger Games movie? Those things all happened about seven or eight years ago. That’s the amount of time we are talking about.

But even these figures are very watered down. They include almost no tipping points or feedback loops, nor the global aspect of equity in the Paris Agreement, nor already locked-in warming hidden by toxic air pollution. Most IPCC scenarios also assume that future generations will be able to suck hundreds of billions of tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere with technologies that don’t exist on the scale required, and that very likely never will in time.

I will try to explain more about what these aspects mean later on. But if you read between the lines you realise that we are facing the need to make changes which are unprecedented in human history.

One reason why the climate and ecological crisis is so hard to communicate is that there’s no magical date when everything is beyond saving. You cannot predict how many people’s lives will be lost, or exactly how our societies will be affected. There are of course countless estimations and calculations which predict what could happen—one more catastrophic than the other—but they almost exclusively focus on a very limited area and almost never take into account the whole picture. We therefore must learn to read between the lines. Just like in any other emergency.

But these are at least the basics. Even if these figures are way too generous they are still the most reliable roadmap available today. They are what we should be referring to.

And the fact that the responsibility to communicate them falls on me and other children should be seen for exactly what it is – a failure beyond all imagination.

Chapter 4: Roadtrip

Three days after my speech in the UN I leave New York City. The last few days everything got a bit too much with all the people and the attention. It feels like a huge relief to move out of the house on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and say goodbye to our host for the last month.

I’ve taken a sabbatical year from school to be able to travel to Santiago de Chile, where the UN’s yearly climate conference, the COP 25, is going to be held. I have no idea how to get there, all I know is that, in order to reach Santiago in time, I’ve got to get to Los Angeles by November 1st. So now awaits 5 weeks of constant traveling. My dad and I leave Manhattan behind us and drive north in an electric car that we’ve borrowed from Arnold Schwarzenegger.

We travel through spectacular landscapes, past mountains, ravines, glaciers, prairies, deserts, swamps. We see the autumn coloured leaves of New England, the forests of Quebec, the lakes in Minnesota, buffalo herds in Wyoming, the redwood trees in Oregon, red rock formations in Arizona and the cotton fields of Alabama.

We switch between the radio stations. The choices are almost only Christian pop and country music. Most of the time it’s just the two of us, but sometimes we are accompanied by journalists or people we know.

Courtesy of Greta ThunbergTravelling through Wyoming in Oct. 2019.

Every Friday I continue to strike wherever I find myself to be at that moment. Denver, Iowa City, Charlotte, Rapid City, Edmonton, Vancouver, Los Angeles. Everywhere lots of people show up, people of all ages. But nothing beats Montreal where half a million people came out on the streets.

In South Dakota we are stopped by a policeman. He looks just like a caricature from an American movie, with mirrored shades, cowboy hat and all. He asks us where we are going. I say Santiago. Then he asks if we’ve got any large amounts of “dollars, weapons or dead bodies in the car?” We answer no, and continue across the Missouri river, over the prairies, the Badlands and the Rocky Mountains.

While the car is charging we walk around the alleys of small towns, shopping malls, suburbs, petrol stations, farms, industrial and residential areas. Wherever I go, people come up to talk and take selfies.

We wake up at 7 a.m. and drive until we get tired in the evening. We buy food wherever there’s food to buy, but it’s not that easy when you’re on the road and you’re vegan. It ends up being mostly canned food, beans, french fries, bananas and bread.

During the nights we either sleep in motels or with people who open up their homes. Activists, scientists, authors, doctors, journalists, hippies, diplomats, movie stars, lawyers. We travel through 37 states in total. Every state has got a slogan on the cars’ license plates, but I make up my own. Like for instance:

North Carolina: Where not even the vegetarian salad bars have vegetarian options.

Alabama: Where the sunsets are pretty and the Christmas decorations are early.

Through the car window I can see the neverending coal trains in Nebraska and Montana, the oil wells in Colorado and California, abandoned factories in Indiana and Pennsylvania, 16-lane highways, endless parking lots and shopping malls, shopping malls, shopping malls. Through the tiny vents of big livestock trucks I look into the eyes of cows and pigs on their way to slaughterhouses.

I’m stunned by the economic differences and social injustices which in many ways are an affront to all forms of human decency. I’m outraged by the oppression targeting especially indigenous, Black and Hispanic communities.

Every twenty minutes or so we pass fields where seemingly endless amounts of brand new RVs, motorboats, quad bikes and tractors are lined up for sale. Along the highways you see giant billboards with anti-abortion, anti-evolution and anti-science campaigns.

At night time the sky is lit by countless oil refineries sparkling in the dark, from north to south, from coast to coast.

Apart from a few wind power plants and solar panels there are no signs whatsoever of any sustainable transition, despite this being the richest country in the world. The debate is far behind Europe. We’re discussing free public transport and circular economy – here they don’t even have public health care or pavements for pedestrians to walk on.

In a petrol station in Texas I count to over 40 different kinds of coffee. I try to add up the number of different sorts of soft drinks as well, but I lose count around 200.

An older man in a cowboy hat comes up to me.

“I’m a big fan,” he says, before he walks across the parking lot, steps inside his giant pickup truck and drives on down the highway.

Chapter 5: The beetle

The only place that anyone has ever discouraged me from visiting is Alberta, Canada. The state of Alberta is one of the western world’s largest oil producers and its main claim to fame is probably being home to the tar sands. The tar sands are an area bigger than the whole of England where oil companies have spent the last 60 years extracting oil straight from the soil. A process with a enormous ecological footprint.

Alberta has a very powerful and highly criticized oil lobby that is well known for its harsh methods to silence anyone they consider a threat to their industry. And I’m definitely considered a threat to them. On several occasions I need to call for police protection when the level of threats and the sheer harassments become too serious.

Courtesy of Greta ThunbergThunberg visits Jasper National Park, Oct. 2019.

On the morning of Oct.21 I’m traveling through the spectacular Canadian landscapes with a film crew from the BBC, heading for the Jasper National Park. Magnificent pine forests stretching out as far as the eye can see. It reminds me of home. Except for the fact that many trees here aren’t green, their needles are either brown or have been lost entirely. It looks very strange. I assume they must be American larch trees, since those trees lose their needles in the autumn.

“No, unfortunately those aren’t Larch trees,” says the biologist Brenda Shepherd as she walks me round the national park. She shakes her head as she approaches one of the brown, pine trees and points to a hole through the bark. Though the hole seeps something that looks like solidified resin.

“Here you can see how the tree has tried to defend itself,” she says. “But it’s useless, it will soon be dead.”

How many trees in this area would you say are affected? I ask.

“About 50%.”

I can’t seem to get my head around what she just said. “50%?”

“Somewhere around there,” she says.

The term ”tipping point” can be hard to understand but this the most clear and obvious example that I that I have come across myself. The mountain pine beetle exists across the North American continent. Every winter the temperature here drops to very low levels. Much colder than in Sweden, for instance. And since only a very small percentage of this species survives in that temperature for a certain number of days, this has never been a problem in the past. But in the last few decades this area has seen a significant level of heating. Canada – as well as other countries close to the poles – has seen a rate of warming about twice as fast as the rest of the world.

So, the temperature rises and all of a sudden we find ourselves on the other side of an invisible border. Suddenly almost the entire population of this beetle survives the winter. And we have passed a tipping point. A point of no return which releases several so-called feedback loops: self-reinforcing, often irreversible, chain reactions. And since the local ecosystem completely lacks the ability to adjust to the new reality, the consequences become extremely visible.

Tree after tree is attacked by the mountain pine beetle and dies shortly thereafter.

Needles to say, the effects on the local environment are disastrous.

But, unfortunately, what happens in the Canadian Rockies doesn’t stay in the Canadian Rockies. These mechanisms are global.

Chapter 6: Tipping points

The day after my encounter with the mountain pine beetle, we have an appointment with the glaciologist John Pomeroy. His team of researchers from the University of Saskatchewan has offered to bring me up onto the Athabasca glacier.

Along the walk leading up to the glacier there are signs placed out by the side of the pathway. Every sign marks a certain year. John stops and points at one that says 1982. “That means that this is where the glacier began in that year.”

It looks quite strange as there is no sight of any nearby glacier whatsoever.

“It was around that time I started working here,” he continues. “Since then I have watched with my own eyes how the glacier has disappeared, meter by meter.”

Due to global heating the Athabasca glacier has, in the last 125 years, retreated 1.5 km and lost half its volume. According to the latest estimates, it’s currently withdrawing 5 metres every year.

Courtesy of Greta ThunbergThunberg filming with the BBC in Glacier National Park, October 2019.

I was instructed to wear every piece of warm clothing that I have, since Katabatic winds – winds that form over glaciers – can be ruthless. And they weren’t exaggerating. Once we step onto the ice it gets almost impossible to move forward, let alone to stand up straight. There’s a heavy snowfall passing by, reminding us that the full force of the long Canadian winter is about to arrive any day now.

We struggle on in our borrowed boots, using ski poles to support our balance and weight. When we reach a place John considers good enough, he stops, takes off his backpack and starts unpacking his gear. He takes measurements while explaining the procedures step by step.

Then he starts chipping into the ice. He breaks off a piece and gives it to me.

“If you look carefully, you see it’s full of small black dots. That’s soot,” he says.

Where does the soot come from?, I ask.

“It’s from the wildfires that burn here every year. The woods lose a lot of their resilience to the fires as there are so many dead trees all over the forest that become like firewood.”

I realise he’s referring to the trees I saw yesterday.

“When there’s this much soot then the entire glacier turns grey,” he continues. “And since a dark surface absorbs more heat than a white one, it means the glacier will melt even faster. It’s a feedback loop. A part of a chain reaction.”

I ask whether this glacier can be saved or not. He shakes his head.

“No, this one has already passed its tipping point and there’s nothing we can do. We estimate that it – along with countless other glaciers – will be gone completely within this century. The world’s glaciers are called the third polar ice cap. Imagine all the people that depend on these glaciers as their source of drinking water. And as if that wasn’t enough, we have now gotten used to – and built our infrastructure around a very high water flow, since the melting process obviously has been way higher than it normally is. That will make it even harder for us to adjust when it starts to run dry.”

How many people are relying on the glaciers in this area for their drinking water, I ask.

“The entire western North America,” he replies. “But the same process is happening all over the world. The Andes, The Alps. And above all in Asia, where up to 2 billion people depend on the natural melting process of the glaciers in Himalaya for their very survival.”

So, in short: the temperature increases, the damaging mountain pine beetle survives the winter and dramatically increases in population. The trees die and turn into wildfire fuel which intensifies the wildfires even further. The soot from those fires makes the surface of the glaciers turn darker and the melting process speeds up even faster.

This is a textbook example of a reinforcing chain reaction, which in itself is just a small part of a much larger holistic pattern connected to our emissions of greenhouse gases.

There are countless other tipping points and chain reactions. Some have not yet happened. And some are very much a reality already today. Such as the release of methane due to thawing permafrost or other phenomena linked to deforestation, dying coral reefs, weakening or changing ocean currents, algae growing on the Antarctic ice, increasing ocean temperatures, changes in monsoon patterns and so on.

Another overlooked factor is the already built in additional warming hidden by life threatening air pollution, this means that once we stop burning fossil fuels we can expect to see an already locked in warming, perhaps as high as 0,5-1,1°C.

It’s all part of an infinite chain of events that constantly trigger and create new events. And new events. And new events. There just doesn’t seem to be an end.

Chapter 7: Paradise

The wall is completely covered by posters. Each one contains a photo of an animal. Dogs, cats, bunnies. On each and every one there is a big headline that spells out the word MISSING. A handful has FOUND handwritten across the picture, but the vast majority remain MISSING.

The wall belongs to the local primary school in the town of Paradise, California. On Nov. 8, 2018 Paradise was almost completely destroyed by a devastating wildfire. The pictures on the school wall represent all the pets that went missing in the fire. This wall became a place where the owners collectively displayed their last hope of finding their pets alive. But, needless to say, most of the animals remain MISSING.

The fire in Paradise destroyed almost 19,000 buildings. 85 people lost their lives, if you exclude other causes of death after the fire. Before the fire 27, 000 people lived in Paradise. Today that number is down to around 2000. The town became a symbol of how climate breakdown is affecting us in the global north already today.

California has always had a natural fire season, just like Australia, Brazil and many other places. But over recent years that season has grown considerably longer and the fires have become more frequent and devastating. Higher temperatures, less rainfall and stronger winds are some of the changing factors that together make up for a deadly combination when it comes to wildfires.

Walking around in Paradise is almost like being in a ghost town. I’m here with the BBC to talk to one of the survivors of the 2018 fire. He guides us around the area that used to be his neighborhood. He points at empty spaces and tells us what used to be there. Houses and gardens in the lush, green outskirts of town.

“That was a car,” he says and points to a lump of metal, lying on a burnt out driveway. The temperature in the fire sometimes got so high that cars started to melt. Suddenly he stops.

“This used to be my house.” He looks at an open field as if there still was a house standing there. It’s almost as if he’s hallucinating, since all that is left is a mailbox and the remains of power lines and sewage pipes, sticking out of the red soil.

The fact that the climate crisis is already affecting people today is hardly something new. Even though it would sometimes seem like it, judging by the ongoing discourse.

We often hear that we need to act for the sake of our children. That the future living conditions will get significantly worsened unless we act now. And that is of course true. But it seems like we keep forgetting that large numbers of people around the world are dying already today. And when I say that I’m not primarily talking about in places like California.

The ones who are and will be hit the hardest are the same as in most other crises. The poorest and the most vulnerable. Those who are already suffering from other injustices. Namely, people in developing countries, and above all women and children. Since they are the ones with the least resources, living in the most vulnerable parts of the global society.

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The UN predicts that by the year 2050 there will be up to 1 billion climate refugees in the world. I wonder, what will it take for us to start facing these issues and begin to ask the uncomfortable questions?

In Sweden we live our lives as if we had 4.2 planet earths. Our annual carbon footprint is approximately 11 tonnes of CO2 per person, if we include consumption. That can be compared to India’s 1.7 tonnes per capita. Or Kenyas 0.3 tonnes.

On average the CO2 emissions from one single Swede annually is the equivalent of 110 people from Mali in West Africa. So if there is any truth to the claim – popular in Western societies – that quote ”there are too many people in the world” then wouldn’t that only refer to ourselves, living extremely high carbon lifestyles in the global north? And not the vast majority of the global population who are already living within the planetary boundaries.

But my experience from all such arguments is that they are only used to seek further excuses to go on living the unsustainable life that we consider to be our right.

The climate and sustainability crisis is not a fair crisis. The ones who’ll be hit hardest from its consequences are often the ones who have done the least to cause the problem in the first place.

The global aspect of equity and climate justice make up the very heart of the Paris Agreement. Developed countries have signed up to lead the way.

And this is so that people in developing countries can have a chance to raise their living standards and to build some of the infrastructure that we in the industrialized world already have. Such as roads, hospitals, schools, electricity, sewage systems and clean drinking water.

After our visit to Paradise we get back in the car and head towards the coast. We have been offered a stay for the night in a small house in a vineyard. But suddenly the phone rings and we find out that the entire vineyard has burnt to the ground in the wildfires currently raging through the California wine districts.

We drive on towards San Francisco. As the evening falls the night sky turns red and you can feel the smoke from the fires in your nose.

Chapter 8: Media

“Wait, let me just record the interview.”

The journalist grabs his iPhone out of the pocket of his way-too-thin coat. It is a cloudy, freezing day on Mynttorget in the old town of central Stockholm. But just like any other Friday a few dozen others and I have gathered here to stand outside and protest in front of the Swedish parliament. It does get a bit chilly standing there for 7 hours straight in a few windy degrees below zero.

He presses record and holds up the phone towards me.

“So, why are you striking?” he asks.

I’m striking for us to take the climate crisis seriously and treat it like a crisis.

“Yes, but what do you want the politicians to do?”

I want them to listen to and act on the science, do what they have promised to do in the Paris Agreement and treat the crisis like a crisis.

I can tell that I haven’t given him the answers he wanted.

“Yes, but what specifically?”

When I then start talking about carbon budgets he gives up and interrupts. He knows very well he won’t be able to use anything of what I’m now saying in his article. People want something simple and concrete, and they want me to be naive, angry, childish and emotional. That is the story that sells and creates the most clicks.

“But uh,” he continues, “how are we going to solve this climate issue?”

Just the fact that this question is asked to me – a teenager – over and over is absurd. But not as absurd as the fact that the climate- and ecological emergency is being reduced to a “problem” that needs to be “fixed”. That it is seen as an “important topic” among other “important topics”.

Evgenia Arbugaeva for TIMEThunberg speaks to press during a climate strike before the COP25 summit, in Madrid, December 2019.

Of course I don’t know how we are going to solve the climate crisis. The fact is that no one knows. There is no magic invention or political plan that will solve everything. Because how do you solve a crisis? How do you solve a war? How do you solve a pandemic without a vaccine?

The only way is to treat the climate crisis like you would treat any other crisis. To come together, gather all the experts, put other things aside and adapt to the new reality. To act as quickly and strongly as the situation allows.

If for instance there’s no vaccine available for a disease you invest all possible resources into developing one as soon as possible, while at the same time taking all other possible measures as well. In a crisis you act even if you don’t know exactly how you are going to solve the problem. In a crisis there’s no time to wait for specific answers and details. Because the answers have to be found along the way. In a crisis you need to put all cards on the table and think long term and holistically. The climate crisis doesn’t have a vaccine. We have to admit that we don’t know how we are going to solve it. Because if we would have known then it wouldn’t have been a crisis in the first place.

There are many who claim that people understand but repress the full meaning of the climate crisis, because the message is too depressing and difficult to handle. That would mean that we continue to do what we do, despite being fully aware of the devastating consequences of our actions. But that I refuse to believe, since this would mean that we humans are evil.

My experience however is that people understand much less about the climate crisis than you’d think. If there’s anything I’ve learnt from traveling around the world it is that the level of knowledge and awareness is close to nonexistent.

I’ve met many of the most powerful people in the world. And even among them pretty much everyone lacks even some of the most basic knowledge. So if people are not aware, who is guilty for the message not getting through?

The reporter on Mynttorget is running out of time, he knows his phone’s battery won’t last much longer in the cold.

“But who really is Greta?” he asks. “I think people want to know Greta.”

I’m not important, I answer. This has got nothing to do with me. I’m completely uninteresting. I’m not doing this because I want to become famous or popular or get followers on social media.

“I’m doing this simply because no one else is doing anything.”

Chapter 9: Crossing the Atlantic

It’s six o’clock in the morning on Nov. 13, 2019. The TV monitors in the hotel lobby in Hampton, Virginia are showing weather warnings on repeat. Giant storm patterns are raging along the entire North American east coast, from Florida to Nova Scotia.

We step inside the car with the tiny luggage we’ve got left. It’s pitch black outside and the car is still freezing. Rob Liddell, a documentarian with the BBC, and sailor Nikki Henderson are sitting in the back. Nikki scrolls through the latest weather updates on her phone. Rob has got the camera on his shoulder and is looking at us through the lens.

It’s dead silent inside the car. The only thing you hear is Nikki sighing and moaning over and over again. After what feels like an eternity she shakes her head, puts the phone down and goes “wow guys, we’re in for a rough ride”.

“But we’re still going, right?” my dad asks, a bit worried.

“Of course,” she says.

Rob tries to ask me questions to get some kind of interview going, but I’m not really in the right mood.

One hour later we cast off from the dock. We clear the harbor entrance heading for Chesapeake Bay and wave goodbye to all the people and TV crews who have gathered on the surrounding docks. There’s a strong wind coming from Northwest. On deck the freezing temperatures of last night have turned all puddles into thick layers of ice. It’s snowing. We set sail and head for the open sea. Towards the lighthouse. Towards the ocean. Towards Europe. Towards Portugal. Towards Stockholm Central Station.

Eva O’Leary for TIMEThunberg departs the U.S. on the catamaran La Vagabonde as she sets sail towards Portugal in Hampton, Virginia, on November 13, 2019.

You do not sail across the North Atlantic ocean in November. At the end of September the storms come, and then the season closes until spring. Of course I had not planned for it to be like this. But the UN COP25 summit, where I was headed, was suddenly moved from Santiago to Madrid, meaning I had traveled halfway across the globe in the wrong direction. I had to find a solution.

I consider every possible option. Zeppelin airships, solar powered airplane and even sailing across the Pacific Ocean and then taking the Trans Siberian railway home. The most likely outcome however is to stay somewhere in North America for the winter.

Hundreds of people get in touch and want to help, but very few actually have something concrete to offer. The French and Spanish governments reach out and assure that they are going to help me find a way. However it is very unclear how they will do that.

Two Nordic airlines email and offer to arrange a flight using “50% sustainable fuel and then use the remaining 50% on another flight so that in total it becomes 100% fossil free”. As if biofuels were sustainable.

If I wouldn’t have been who I am I would probably have hitched a ride on a cargo ship, since they – unlike airplanes and cruise ships – don’t depend on paying passengers.

But everything I do and say gets altered and turned upside down which leads to mockery, conspiracy theories and organised hate campaigns. Which in turn leads to death threats toward me and my family. And that build up of hate and threat is much riskier than all the storms in the world.

Then suddenly one night in a hotel room in Savannah, Georgia, the phone beeps. It is Riley and Eleyna, a couple of young Australian YouTubers who are reaching out. They’re living on their catamaran with their one year-old son Lenny and are sailing around in the world, with no planned route. They offer to take us to Europe.

On the boat, we steer south so that in a certain amount of time we will have put ourselves in a strategically safe position away from a storm, so that we later can safely get to another position to avoid the next big storm. And then the next one, and the next one, and the next one. The low pressure systems sweeping over the North Atlantic right now are enormous. During the days we have gusts reaching up to 60 knots, and some nights the electric storms are so immense that you can see sparks in the water. We store all electronic devices in the oven to avoid them getting destroyed by lightning.

We are completely in the hands of the meteorologists helping us, sending weather updates and recommendations a few times a day. We’re very lucky to also have Nikki, a professional sailor, onboard. One hundred nautical miles in the wrong position can be the difference between life and death this time of year with this boat. You simply have to blindly trust data and the experts.

Me, my dad, Nikki, Elayna, Riley and Lenny are alone in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We are at the mercy of nature and have to act accordingly. We need to be able to take care of ourselves if something goes wrong.

If you are one week away from the nearest harbour you do not take any unnecessary risks. You don’t for instance start a fire on deck if you feel cold, you don’t throw away limited provisions of food or necessary equipment out in the ocean. You keep a constant watchful eye on the horizon and you don’t allow yourself to get struck by hubris. Onboard we are guided by common sense, the same common sense that should exist everywhere.

We are a civilisation isolated in the middle of the universe. Space is our ocean and the planet is our boat. Our one and only boat.

Chapter 10: Greenwashing

So what should we do to avoid a climate disaster beyond human control?

That is the question of our time. It is being asked by people all across the political spectrum from all over the world.

But what if the question to a great extent has been phrased the wrong way? What if it should rather be “what should we stop doing to avoid a climate disaster”?

This year – 2020 – the emission curve must be bent steeply downwards if we are to still have even a small chance of achieving the goals world leaders have agreed to. And then it’s of course not going to be enough with a temporary and coincidental reduction of greenhouse gas emissions where the purpose has been to stop a pandemic.

A common misconception about the climate crisis is that people think we need to reduce our emissions. But the fact is that if we are to keep the promise of the Paris Agreement, a reduction won’t be enough. We then need to reach a full stop of emissions within a couple of decades, and then quickly move on to negative figures.

There are generally three ways of reducing emissions – apart from the most obvious, to replace current fossil energy with renewables, such as solar and wind.

Number one is technical solutions. Techniques where you capture and store CO2 at the emitting source or directly out of the air. The problem here however is that the emissions need to drastically reduce now, and these techniques won’t exist at even close to scale in the foreseeable future. These plants are still prototypes. Believe me, I’ve myself visited two of the leading facilities in the world.

The second alternative is to use nature’s own ability to absorb and store carbon, which today often gets mistaken for only planting trees. Despite the fact that the most efficient way most often is to just leave the forests and natural habitats be in the first place.

A forest area the size of a football field is being cut down every second, according to Global Forest Watch. That is every second of every hour of every day. No tree planting in the world could compensate for that. And even if we miraculously decided to shut down the entire forestry industry and use all the available space in the world to plant trees, that still would only compensate for a few years’ emissions at current rates.

The third option is the only method that is available at scale already today. And that is to simply stop doing certain things. But it is also the alternative which people seem to find the most unrealistic. Just the thought of us being in a crisis that we cannot buy, build or invest our way out of seems to create some kind of collective mental short circuit.

Then there’s of course a fourth way of doing it. And this is the procedure that undoubtedly has been the most successful one so far, when it comes to reducing emissions. And it is so-called “creative accounting”. To simply refrain from reporting the emissions, or move them somewhere else. To systematically sweep things under the carpet, lie, and blame someone else.

My own country Sweden is a textbook example. In our case this strategy means that over half our emissions simply don’t exist on paper.

Evgenia Arbugaeva for TIMEGreta Thunberg addresses supporters and journalists upon her arrival in Santo Amaro Recreation dock on December 03, 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Year after year people in power are allowed to appear in the media unchallenged and claim that Sweden’s emissions of greenhouse gases have decreased 20-30% since 1990. But the truth is that they haven’t decreased at all, if you include consumption and international aviation and shipping. And obviously the statistics will look much better if you simply choose not to count everything.

But this is not unique to Sweden. The same approach is being used by pretty much everyone in the richer part of the world. Whether it being the EU, individual countries, states, cities or companies.

We have simply moved our factories to different parts of the world where the labour is cheaper – and by doing so we also moved a significant part of our emissions overseas. And of course this is a very convenient solution for the global north, but since the biosphere doesn’t care about neither borders nor empty words, it doesn’t work as well in reality.

But the real problem is that when it comes to the climate- and ecological emergency the people in power can today say basically whatever they want. They are practically guaranteed to not receive any follow up questions.

The issue of nuclear power is still for example allowed to dominate the entire climate debate, even though science has concluded that it can – at best – only be a very risky, expensive and small part of a much larger holistic solution.

You can claim that we can achieve impossible results through so-called green investments, without having to explain how it will be done, or what the term “green” even means. Words like green, sustainable, ’net zero’, ‘environmentally friendly’, organic, ‘climate neutral’ and ‘fossil free’ are today so misused and watered down that they have pretty much lost all their meaning. They can imply everything from deforestation to aviation, meat- and car industries.

And basically because the general level of public awareness is so low you can still get away with anything. No one is held accountable. It’s like a game. Whoever is best at packaging and selling their message wins. And since the truth is uncomfortable, unpopular and unprofitable, the truth doesn’t stand much of a chance.

Moral, truth, long term- and holistic thinking seem to mean nothing to us. The emperors are naked. Every single one. It turns out our whole society is just one big nudist party.

Chapter 11: Corona pandemic

Last year when I visited Davos I slept in a tent in 18° below zero. This year the organisers said that for security reasons I had to stay in a hotel.

The night before the conference starts I catch the flu. So it was quite a relief that I wasn’t sleeping in a tent. I have to cancel most scheduled events, which is something I actually don’t mind at all, since I find social gatherings and meetings that don’t lead anywhere mostly just being a waste of time.

So my stay is quite relaxing, but today I’m supposed to drag myself out the door for a meeting with the president of Switzerland. After that I’m going to go public with my plans about traveling to China. I’ve just received the official invitation to address the World Economic Forum conference which will most likely be held in Shenzhen, China sometime in the beginning of June. Visiting China is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and now it’s finally about to happen, that is, if the Chinese government will let me inside the country.

But just as I’m about to walk out the door the Swiss president cancels, as she had to immediately go back to Zürich to attend an emergency meeting. Apparently developments around the new virus discovered in China are causing grave concern.

That was my first introduction to the coronavirus crisis. I immediately put my plans of visiting China on hold. It seemed to become less and less possible to travel there sometime this spring. Instead I start planning to follow up on some other invitations, to take the Trans Siberian railway via Vladivostok to South Korea and Japan. But as the situation escalates I of course have to abandon these plans as well.

Evgenia Arbugaeva for TIMEThunberg arrives in Madrid for the last U.N. climate summit before a crucial deadline in 2020

So I use the upcoming weeks to travel around in Europe, continuing to work on the documentary together with the BBC. We visit Jokkmokk, London, Yorkshire, Zürich and the European parliament. I strike in Hamburg, Bristol and Brussels. It’s the beginning of March 2020 and the world is just about to be turned completely upside down. This weekend there are supposed to be big climate strikes in France. But right here a tipping point is passed. What was unquestionable the week before has now suddenly become unthinkable.

In the Fridays For Future movement we decide to cancel everything, without hesitation. People are dying. Many are losing their family members, loved ones as well as their economic stability. The consequences of this pandemic are catastrophic. A crisis is a crisis, and in a crisis we all have to take a few steps back and act for the greater good of each other and our society. In a crisis you adapt and change your behaviour. And indeed, this is what the world does, at record speed.

So what was it that made these global structural changes possible in just a matter of hours?

Was it hope and inspiration that made us act so quickly during the corona pandemic? Something that most communication experts and news editors have claimed to be the only way forward to create change. Or was it perhaps something else?

There’s nothing positive about the corona crisis from a climate perspective. The changes made in our daily lives due to COVID-19 have extremely little similarity with the action needed for the climate.

The corona tragedy of course has no long term positive effects on the climate, apart from one thing only: namely the insight into how you should perceive and treat an emergency. Because during the corona crisis we suddenly act with necessary force.

International emergency meetings take place on a daily basis. Astronomical financial bailouts magically appear out of nowhere. Canceled events and tough restrictions make people change their behaviour and approach overnight.

The media completely transitions, puts other things on hold and almost exclusively reports about COVID-19, with daily press conferences and live coverage 24/7. All parts of society come together and politicians put their different views aside and cooperate for the greater good of everyone. Well – maybe not everyone and everywhere.

But broadly speaking, people in power from politics, business and finance are suddenly saying that they will do whatever it takes since “you can not put a price on a human life”.

Those words and this treatment of the crisis opens up a whole new dimension. Because you see, every year at least 7 million people die from illnesses related to air pollution, according to the WHO. Those are apparently people whose lives we can put a price on. Since they die from the wrong causes, and in the wrong parts of the world.

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During the corona pandemic policy makers repeat that we have to “listen to the science and the experts”. Well, according to the world’s leading scientists and experts on biodiversity, the pandemic is likely to be followed by deadlier and more destructive diseases unless we halt the ceaseless destruction of natural habitats.

But these are not the scientists and experts they are referring to. Because long term sustainability doesn’t fit inside today’s economic and political systems.

Chapter 12: Hope

In the aftermath of the corona crisis there are many who claim that we need to use this as an opportunity. That when we restart the economy we must adopt a so-called “green recovery plan”. And of course it’s incredibly important that we invest our assets in sustainable projects, renewable energy, technical solutions and research. But we must not for one second believe that it will be even close to what is actually required. Or for that matter that the so called targets set out today would be ambitious enough.

If all countries were to actually go through with the emission reductions they have set as goals, we would still be heading for a catastrophic global temperature rise of at least 3-4 degrees. The people in power today have thus practically already given up on the possibility of handing over a decent future for coming generations. Given up without even trying.

It sounds terrible, I know. But in reality it is actually even worse. Because even if they want to act in line with what is needed – which actually sometimes is the case – they can’t. And that is because we are stuck in already written contracts and business agreements.

It’s just simple math.

The United Nations Production Gap Report shows that the world’s planned fossil fuel production alone by the year 2030 accounts for 120% more than what would be consistent with the 1.5°C target. It just doesn’t add up.

So if we are to avoid a climate catastrophe we have to make it possible to tear up contracts and abandon existing deals and agreements, on a scale we can’t even begin to imagine today.

And that alone requires a whole new way of thinking. Since those type of actions are not politically, economically or legally possible today. The climate- and ecological crisis can not be solved within today’s political and economic systems. That is no longer an opinion. That’s a fact.

I understand that all of this sounds uncomfortable and depressing. And I fully get why you as a politician or news editor choose to look away. But you must also realise that for us who actually have to live with the consequences for the rest of our lives, that’s a luxury that we can’t afford.

Recently a new scientific report was published by scientists from Uppsala University and the Tyndall Centre in the UK. It shows that if rich countries like Sweden and the UK are to fulfill their commitments to the Paris Agreement’s well-below 2°C target they need to reduce their total national emissions of CO2 by 12-15% every year, starting now.

Of course there’s no “green recovery plan” or “deal” in the world that alone would be able to achieve such emission cuts. And that’s why the whole “green deal” debate ironically risks doing more harm than good, as it sends a signal that the changes needed are possible within today’s societies. As if we could somehow solve a crisis without treating it like a crisis. A lot may have happened in the last two years, but the changes and level of awareness required are still nowhere in sight.

Things may look dark and hopeless, but I’m telling you there is hope. And that hope comes from the people, from democracy, from you. From the people who more and more themselves are starting to realize the absurdity of the situation. The hope does not come from politics, business or finance. And that’s not because politicians or businesspeople are evil. But because what is needed right now simply seems to be too uncomfortable, unpopular and unprofitable.

Public opinion is what runs the free world, and the public opinion necessary is today nonexisting, the level of knowledge is too low.

But there are signs of change, of awakening. Just take the metoo movement, blacklivesmatter or the schoolstrike movement for instance. It’s all interconnected. We have passed a social tipping point, we can no longer look away from what our society has been ignoring for so long. Whether it is sustainability, equality, or justice.

From a sustainability point of view all political and economic systems have failed. But humanity has not yet failed. The climate and ecological emergency is not primarily a political crisis. It is an existential crisis, completely based on scientific facts.

The evidence is there. The numbers are there. We cannot get away from that fact. Nature doesn’t bargain and you cannot compromise with the laws of physics. And either we accept and understand the reality as it is, or we don’t. Either we go on as a civilisation or we don’t.

Doing our best is no longer good enough. We must now do the seemingly impossible. And that is up to you and me. Because no one else will do it for us.

Evgenia Arbugaeva for TIMEYoung supporters of Greta Thunberg await her arrival in Santo Amaro Recreation dock on December 03, 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal.

[strike-back-now-info]

This is one of the best speeches I ever heard  He spoke for America 1st which is all Americans you want to watch this video only 38 minutes long but it's good.

This is one of the best speeches I ever heard  He spoke for America 1st which is all Americans you want to watch this video only 38 minutes long but it's good.

 WATCH LIVE: Trump addresses the 2019 United Nations General Assembly

 https://youtu.be/eICiLRykTFg

  September 25, 2019

The speech they're trying to hide: President Trump's stellar UN speech

By Monica Showalter

Seems the mainstream media are desperate to keep President Trump's stellar United Nations speech out of the news.

On Tuesday, Trump delivered a far from throwaway speech articulating the vision of the voters who elected him, speaking of nationalism, globalism, and socialism, along with an added rundown of problem nations to condemn and props for others. 

RealClearPolitics has a video and transcript.

For starters, it was a zero apologies for America speech, which was a breath of fresh air, given the previous administration.

He drove a fine definition of nationalism in the American sense, not other countries, as a positive thing that benefits not just the U.S., but all nations.  And he exuded pride in the success the U.S. has seen as a result of recognizing this very reality:

If you want freedom, take pride in your country. If you want democracy, hold onto your sovereignty. And if you want peace, love your nation. Wise leaders always put the good of their own people and their own country first.

The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots. The future belongs to sovereign and independent nations who protect their citizens, respect their neighbors, and honor the differences that make each country special and unique.

It is why we in the United States have embarked on an exciting program of national renewal. In everything we do, we are focused on empowering the dreams and aspirations of our citizens. Thanks to our pro-growth economic policies, our domestic unemployment rate reached its lowest level in over half a century.

Fueled by massive tax cuts and regulations cuts, jobs are being produced at a historic rate. Six million Americans have been added to the employment rolls in under three years. Last month, African-American, Hispanic American, and Asian American unemployment reached their lowest rates ever recorded.

We are marshaling our nations vast energy abundance and the United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world. Wages are rising, incomes are soaring, and 2.5 million Americans have been lifted out of poverty in less than three years.

As we rebuild the unrivaled might of the American military, we are also revitalizing our alliances by making it very clear that all of our partners are expected to pay their fair share of the tremendous defense burden which the United States has borne in the past. At the center of our vision for national renewal is an ambitious campaign to reform international trade.

He returned to the subject with a rousing conclusion, too:

Love of our nations makes the world better for all nations. So, to all the leaders here today, join us in the most fulfilling mission a person could have. The most profound contribution anyone can make — lift up your nations, cherish your culture, honor your histories, treasure your citizens. Make your countries strong and prosperous and righteous. Honor the dignity of your people and nothing will be outside of your reach.

When our nations are greater the future will be brighter, our people be happier and our partnerships will be stronger. With God's help, together we will cast off the enemies of liberty and overcome the oppressors of dignity. We will set new standards of living and reach new heights of human achievement. We will rediscover all truths, unravel all mysteries and make thrilling new breakthroughs. And we will find more beautiful friendship and more harmony among nations than ever before.

So much for Trump being a Nazi for being a nationalist, as the Left claims.  This isn't Nazi talk.

Trump also summed up perfectly the problems that globalism has morphed into, including the problem of open borders, perfectly cutting through the kultursmog promoted by the left — exposing them as the real anti-humanitarians:

"Today, I have a message for those open border activists who cloak themselves in the rhetoric of social justice: Your policies are not just, your policies are cruel and evil," he said, accusing them of promoting human smuggling and the "erasure of national borders."

You are empowering criminal organizations that prey on innocent men, women and children. You put your own false sense of virtue before the lives and well-being of countless innocent people," he said. "When you undermine border security, you are undermining human rights and human dignity."

Wow.

He also blasted socialism as a real problem in itself, something no world leader has ever done, but all the world's victims of socialism had to be cheering about.  Trump broke that barrier.

One of the most serious challenges our countries face is the specter of socialism. It's the wrecker of nations and destroyer of societies. Events in Venezuela remind us all that socialism and communism are not about justice. They are not about equality. They are not about lifting up the poor. And they are certainly not about the good of the nation. Socialism and communism are about one thing only, power for the ruling class.

Today I repeat a message for the world that I have delivered at home. America will never be a socialist country. In the last century, socialism and communism killed 100 million people.

It not only put its finger on the world's primary problem, it was also a beautiful speech. Trump described how nationalism isn't a hateful sort of thing - it was precisely this appreciation for nationalism that enables citizens to appreciate one another's differences. Trump had lovely words in it for all cultures, and praised many nations, it wasn't the rah-rah me-alone sort of speech. It was nationalism with a friendly hand out, calling for common ground, because, left unsaid, there is common ground as nation after nation elsewhere comes to embrace their own versions of Trump, too. 

He also did something unprecedented for any president - he brought up the need for human rights for gay people, women, and unborn babies, a human rights manifesto if there ever was one. Zero apologies, and not even the left has tried this.

But rest assured, the groundbreaking speech got overshadowed, first by the press's own efforts and then by the shenanigans in Congress over impeachment.

First, the press focused on a supposed glaring incident with Swedish child activist Greta Thunberg at the UN, which was a nothingburger. (Why, exactly, should a head of state give any face time to an obviously manipulated foreign activist?) A non-story.

Then, following President Trump's paradigm-shifting speech before the United Nations General Assembly, they pointed to the lack of applause, which was about to be expected from this globalist crowd. What it signaled was that they were listening closely, given the lack of cursory applause they give to everyone else, including Iran's crazed leaders.

After that, they decided the speech was very, very 'sleepy.' This one got played a lot.

First, CNBC's nothingburger:

President Donald Trump's United Nations speech was a snooze — at least for Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The 81-year-old Ross took a nap — a very long nap — as his boss addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

Television footage of Ross showed the wealthy businessman sleeping soundly as Trump talked about a possible trade deal with China — which is part of the Commerce chief's portfolio — and the U.S. stance on Iran.

Ross had his eyes firmly closed for as long as 15 minutes, video suggested, as Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave the impression of listening intently to Trump.

At one point, however, Ross's eyes opened. He still looked drowsy, though.

Boy, look at the microscopic attention to that. Ross later smacked them down with what looks like a pretty reasonable explanation:

"This is fake news," Ross said in a statement issued to CNBC by the Commerce Department, hours after this article first was published.

"I wear hearing aids and, during President Trump's inspiring speech, which covered in detail the entire range of significant issues facing the world, was concentrating on what was being said," Ross said.

Then they repeated it as a trope:

Esquire:

He sleepily accused Iran of all manner of international perfidy and gave China a few whacks. In what may have been an attempt to wake his audience up through sheer incoherence, he somnambulated his way through some anti-abortion rhetoric. It was at that point that I began to envy Wilbur Ross.

Daily Mirror:

Donald Trump sent a top ally to sleep with the 'low energy' and 'boring' tone of his speech to the UN General Assembly.

CNN:

And at the UN we watched as the leader of the free world delivered a sleepy, low-energy speech that zeroed in on one head-spinning conclusion: every nation should go at it alone.

It was anything but sleepy. Trump's quiet, deliberate tone was quite different from his rally tone, a wild off-the-cuff style of speaking, improvised plenty, but for that reason, it was far more significant.

Leave it up to the mass media to be unable to distinguish the two and imagine the improvised stuff is more important. Trump changed history with this speech and set new boundaries. No wonder the press is trying to obfuscate and distract.

Image credit: Twitter screen shot.

[mastcomm]

Trump and the Teenager: A Climate Showdown at Davos

DAVOS, Switzerland — Neither uttered the other’s name. But President Trump and the Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg took unmistakable aim at each other on Tuesday at this conference of business and government figures, reprising their roles as antagonists on the global stage.

The 73-year-old president and 17-year-old activist dominated the first full day of the gathering, painting starkly different visions of the future, and staking out opposite poles on the signature theme of this year’s forum: how best to manage a world of increasing temperatures, rising seas and catastrophic wildfires.

Mr. Trump implicitly criticized Ms. Thunberg and other activists, saying they peddled warnings of doom at a time when his policies had ushered in a bright new era of economic prosperity for Americans.

“They are the heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortune tellers,” the president said. “They predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s, a mass starvation in the 70s, and an end of oil in the 1990s.”

“This is not a time for pessimism,” Mr. Trump declared, adding, “Fear and doubt is not a good thought process.”

Ms. Thunberg listened, sitting with three other climate activists in the sixth row.

An hour later, Ms. Thunberg, addressing another Davos audience, rebuked leaders for failing to fix a problem of their own making. She said they had ignored pleas for the world to act on climate change. And she flatly rejected Mr. Trump’s assertion that there was much to be optimistic about.

“You say children shouldn’t worry,” Ms. Thunberg said. “You say, ‘Just leave this to us. We will fix this. We promise we won’t let you down.’”

Then, a line that did not appear in her prepared remarks: “‘Don’t be so pessimistic.’”

The last time the two encountered each other, at the United Nations in September, she glared as she watched him pass before her in the General Assembly building. Photos and video of her expression spread widely, only to be followed by what was widely seen as a sarcastic Twitter message from the president.

“She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future,” he wrote. “So nice to see!”

Ms. Thunberg struck back immediately with her nearly two million Twitter followers, briefly changing her bio: “A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future,” she wrote.

There was nothing so direct on Tuesday, when Mr. Trump and Ms. Thunberg spoke to separate audiences.

Mr. Trump celebrated his deregulatory agenda, which he said had unshackled the American economy, allowing the United States to build profitable new energy businesses and to wean itself from energy dependence on what he labeled hostile countries.

Mr. Trump’s impact on environmental protections has been wide-ranging. He has withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, rolled back a wide range of emissions regulations and empowered a bureaucracy that has sought to undermine the science of climate change.

The United States is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in history.

The closest Mr. Trump’s speech at Davos came to environmental issues was his claim that the United States had the cleanest air and drinking water on Earth. In fact, the Trump administration has pushed through a plan to weaken clean-water regulations. And air pollution in the United States has worsened since 2016, reversing decades of improvements, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.

Mr. Trump dismissed the activists as advocating a form of “radical socialism” that Americans would reject. While he got only perfunctory applause, his message resonated with some in the business-heavy audience.

Critics pointed to a contradiction that they said the corporate world had been unable to resolve: how to assuage the appetite for economic growth, based on gross domestic product, with the urgent need to check carbon emissions.

“It’s truly a contradiction,” said Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “It’s difficult to see if the current G.D.P.-based model of economic growth can go hand-in-hand with rapid cutting of emissions,” he said.

Ms. Thunberg, for her part, largely repeated the warning she issued at the United Nations last year and for which she has drawn widespread global attention.

She spent several weeks in the United States, joining school climate strikes, visiting Native American activists at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, which covers parts of North and South Dakota, and testifying in Congress. There, when asked to submit her remarks, she opted instead to submit a report issued in October by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change spelling out the threats of global temperature rise.

Ms. Thunberg has always maintained that she has no interest in meeting Mr. Trump and suggested that he consult climate scientists if he wants to learn the facts. While the audience warmly greeted her call for action, she, too, was not without her critics.

“We have to be a little bit between optimism and outrage,” said Oliver Bäte, the chief executive of the German insurance giant Allianz. “I cannot get up every day outraged. We have to do something.”

Earlier in the day, Ms. Thunberg, speaking on another panel, brushed off criticism, saying it was more important to pay attention to the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has warned how dangerously close the world is to overspending its carbon budget and triggering irreversible climate effects.

Though Mr. Trump barely mentioned climate change, he did commit the United States to a World Economic Forum initiative to plant a trillion new trees as a way to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions. The president pledged that the United States would work to manage and preserve its forests.

On this, Ms. Thunberg withheld her praise, warning that such initiatives were often an excuse for inaction.

“We are not telling you to offset your emissions by just paying someone else to plant trees in places like Africa, while at the same time forests like the Amazon are being slaughtered at an infinitely higher rate,” she said.

“Planting trees is good of course,” Ms. Thunberg said. “But it’s nowhere near enough of what is needed, and it cannot replace real mitigation or rewilding nature.”

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/business/trump-and-the-teenager-a-climate-showdown-at-davos/

[actutrends]

POLITICO’s Holiday GIF Guide

The Spanish Side-Eye

This year, we saw 6 Democratic primary arguments, each of which generated a multitude of memes. It was tough to select the very best, from the “ Orb Queen” Marianne Williamson to Bernie Sanders mocking John Hickenlooper mocking Bernie Sanders But the winner was Senator Cory Booker’s reaction to former Agent Beto O’Rourke’s usage of Spanish in the first dispute.

High Hopes

In September, a press reporter shared a clip of Buttigieg campaign volunteers carrying out a choreographed dance to the Panic! at the Disco tune “High Hopes.”

Team @PeteButtigieg displaying their dance moves early this morning ahead of today’s #SteakFry in Iowa. pic.twitter.com/ZyCEehrz9A

— Rachel Scott (@rachelvscott) September 21, 2019

And it ended up that it wasn’t the only circumstances of his project doing the routine.

… meanwhile, throughout the #PeteSummit lunch break #teampete #highhopes pic.twitter.com/8VFU4b1q0c

— Liz McLeod (@LizMcLeod) November 17, 2019

More clips emerged of others across the nation practicing and performing it, and before long, it was a viral sensation.

me every morning throughout Emperor Pete’s fourth term in workplace to do the mandatory Morning Dance to our brand-new national anthem pic.twitter.com/Vt3CxyjCWP

— *” Volk” magnifies (@TinctureDrone) November 19, 2019

‘ I Want Nothing’

After Ambassador Gordon Sondland affirmed in November prior to Congress, beautifying us with his own memeable face, President Donald Trump left of the White Home to speak to the media, and some electronic cameras caught looks of his notes, composed with giant Sharpie marker. It might have been a minute straight out of “Veep.” Some folks on Twitter observed that Trump’s notes looked like tune lyrics, and people quickly provided a variety of cover variations of this year’s newest hit:

Motivated by @pattonoswalt, here’s Trump’s notes as if Morrissey wrote them into tune, performed by me pic.twitter.com/Emka5wVwzM

— Appa the Flying ison (@victoryrhoad) November 20, 2019

someone on twitter today: trump’s odd hand-scrawled rejection today seems like a ramones song.

me: pic.twitter.com/mynZjx0E0M

— Alex Kliment (@SaoSasha) November 21, 2019

Emo Trump recites poem on White House yard pic.twitter.com/rAD3xRjX4L

— Nick Lutsko (@NickLutsko) November 20, 2019

The Greta Staredown

When Trump entered a lobby in September at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, captured on cam behind him was Greta Thunberg, a 16- year-old climate activist, looking him down. The moment was quickly memed, and it triggered a 1,100- word creative analysis in the New York City Times Magazine Julián Castro summed up the minute more directly, tweet ing, “I think a great deal of us can relate.” And CNN analyst Ana Navarro tweeted, “We are all Greta.”

The SOTU Clap

Pelosi ended up being the “ Queen of Condescending Applause” in February, when a fleeting minute of the speaker’s seemingly sarcastic clapping throughout Trump’s State of the Union speech captured the world’s attention and prompted its own digital applause

The Memer in Chief

His developments in 2019 ranged from absurd to complicated to juvenile to copyright-infringing, and many had a propensity to backfire(much like the efforts of his meme-loving boy). Trump posted a brief clip of the first few seconds of the band’s music video for the tune “Photo” edited to include a photo of the Bidens on a golf course with a Burisma board member.

Can a candidate be destroyed by memes?

In October, her press secretary developed a viral misfire of meme-making when he photoshopped his manager in the place of Trump in an image of Nancy Pelosi staring down the president at a White House conference.

Jezebel asked if the plethora of “Kamala is a Police” memes, which took objective at her record as a prosecutor, contributed to the death of her project.

We might not see any more of Harris on the project trail, however with one constantly reusable able GIF that reveals no indication of leaving of our digital lexicon, we can wave farewell to 2019 and eagerly anticipate a lot more memeable minutes to come in 2020.

The Top GIF of the Year

What was, literally, the No. 1 political GIF of 2019? We asked GIPHY, a popular online GIF database, which told us that these perplexed and horrified responses from an Italian translator in the Oval Workplace in October were the year’s most shared political GIFs.

At one point, Trump stated of Syria, “They’ve got a lot of sand over there. So there’s a great deal of sand they can play with.”

The post POLITICO’s Holiday GIF Guide appeared first on Actu Trends.

[thisdaynews]

POLITICO’s Holiday GIF Guide

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/politicos-holiday-gif-guide/

POLITICO’s Holiday GIF Guide

The Spanish Side-Eye

This year, we saw six Democratic primary debates, each of which spawned a multitude of memes. It was hard to pick the best, from the‘Orb Queen’Marianne WilliamsontoBernie Sanders mocking John Hickenlooper mocking Bernie Sanders. But the winner was Senator Cory Booker’s facial reaction to former congressman Beto O’Rourke’s use of Spanish in the very first debate.

High Hopes

In September, a reporter shared a clip of Pete Buttigieg campaign volunteers performing a choreographed dance to the Panic! at the Disco song “High Hopes.”

Team @PeteButtigieg showing off their dance moves early this morning ahead of today’s #SteakFry in Iowa. pic.twitter.com/ZyCEehrz9A

— Rachel Scott (@rachelvscott) September 21, 2019

And it turned out that it wasn’t the only instance of his campaign doing the routine.

…meanwhile, during the #PeteSummit lunch break #teampete #highhopes pic.twitter.com/8VFU4b1q0c

— Liz McLeod (@LizMcLeod) November 17, 2019

More clips emerged of others across the country practicing and performing it, and before long, it was a viral sensation.

me every morning during Emperor Pete’s 4th term in office to do the mandatory Morning Dance to our new national anthem pic.twitter.com/Vt3CxyjCWP

— *“Volk” intensifies* (@TinctureDrone) November 19, 2019

‘I Want Nothing’

After Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified in November before Congress, gracing us with his ownmeme-able face, President Trump walked out of the White House to speak to the press, and some cameras caught glimpses of his notes, written in giant Sharpie marker. It could have been a momentstraight out of “Veep.”Some folks on Twitter observed that Trump’s notesresembledsonglyrics, and people quickly delivered a plethora of cover versions of this year’s newest hit:

Inspired by @pattonoswalt , here’s Trump’s notes as if Morrissey wrote them into song, performed by me pic.twitter.com/Emka5wVwzM

— Appa the Flying 🅱ison (@victoryrhoad) November 20, 2019

somebody on twitter today: trump’s weird hand-scrawled denial today sounds like a ramones song.

me: pic.twitter.com/mynZjx0E0M

— Alex Kliment (@SaoSasha) November 21, 2019

Emo Trump recites poem on White House lawn pic.twitter.com/rAD3xRjX4L

— Nick Lutsko (@NickLutsko) November 20, 2019

The Greta Staredown

When President Trump entered a lobby in September at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, caught on camera behind him was Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist, staring him down. The moment was instantly memed, and it gave rise to an1,100-word artistic analysisin theNew York Times Magazine. Julián Castro summarized the moment more directly,writingon Twitter, “I think a lot of us can relate.” And CNN commentator Ana Navarrotweeted, “We are all Greta.”

The SOTU Clap

Nancy Pelosi became the “Queen of Condescending Applause” this February, when a fleeting moment of the Speaker of the House’s seemingly sarcastic clapping during President Trump’s State of the Union speech caught the world’sattentionand prompted its owndigital applause.

The Memer-in-Chief

President Trump is something of a meme warrior. His creations in 2019 ranged fromabsurdtoconfusingtojuvenileto copyright-infringing, and many had atendencytobackfire(muchliketheattemptsof hismeme-lovingson). But on at least on one occasion, the president made such effective use of an old meme that Nickelback, the divisive Canadian rock band whose music it appropriated,asked for it to be taken down. Trump posted a short clip of the first few seconds of the band’smusic video for the song “Photograph,”photoshopped with a picture of the Bidens on a golf course with a Burisma board member.

Can a candidate be ruined by memes?

No one embodied the year in GIFs and memes—not for a single moment but for an entire body of work—more than Kamala Harris. In October, her own press secretary created aviral misfireof meme-making when he photoshopped his boss in the place of Donald Trump in an image of Nancy Pelosi staring down the president at a White House meeting. Kamala 2020 is over, but the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the memes will never die.

Jezebelaskedif the multitude of ‘Kamala is a Cop’ memes, which took aim at her record as a prosecutor, actually contributed to the demise of her campaign.

We might not see any more of Harris on the campaign trail, but with one endlessly repurpose-able GIF that shows no sign of dropping out of our digital lexicon, we can wave goodbye to 2019 and look forward to even more meme-able moments to come in 2020.

The Top GIF of the Year

What was, literally, the No. 1 political GIF of 2019? We asked GIPHY, the popular online database, which told us that these perplexed and horrified reactions from an Italian translator in October at the Oval Office were the year’s most shared political GIFs.

At one point, Trump said of Syria, “They’ve got a lot of sand over there. So there’s a lot of sand they can play with.”

Read More

[kansascityhappenings]

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg named TIME Person of the Year

Time magazine has chosen Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate crisis activist, as person of the year.

Thunberg, 16, is the youngest individual to be recognized. She gained international attention for excoriating world leaders for their inaction in the climate crisis in a viral speech she made at the UN Climate Action Summit in September. She criticized world leaders again at the COP25 conference last week.

“Thunberg has become the biggest voice on the biggest issue facing the planet—and the avatar of a broader generational shift in our culture that is playing out everywhere from the campuses of Hong Kong to the halls of Congress in Washington,” Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote.

Each year, the magazine features the most influential person, group, movement or idea of the previous 12 months. Last year, it was “The Guardians,” a group of journalists who have been targeted or assaulted for their work. In 2017, it was “The Silence Breakers,” the group of people who came forward to report sexual misconduct. This marks the third year in a row in which Time has named a person who was not a world leader. President Donald Trump was Person of the Year in 2016 and Germany chancellor Angela Merkel was recognized the year before that. Past Persons of the Year include Adolf Hitler, Ayatollah Khomeini and Joseph Stalin.

“We describe it as the person who influenced the years’ events most, for better or for worse. But I really think of it as Time is about the people and ideas that shape the world and Person of the Year is about the people who shaped the year,” Felsenthal told CNN Business in an interview this week.

On Wednesday, Felsenthal unveiled the Person of the Year on the “Today” show, where he shared more about Thunberg’s rise from seemingly nowhere.

“She was a solo protestor with a hand-painted sign 14 months ago. She’s now led millions of people around the world, 150 countries, to act on behalf of the planet,” Felsenthal said.

The shortlist this year included Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, The Whistleblower and the Hong Kong protestors.

Time also announced winners of four new categories. Athlete of the year is the US women’s soccer team, entertainer of the year is Lizzo and business person of the year is Disney CEO Bob Iger. After recognizing “The Guardians” last year, Time created a new category to recognize a different group of “Guardians” — those who took to the stand and risked their careers in the defense of the rule of law. The public servants in this category include the whistleblower, Marie Yovanovitch, Ambassador William Taylor, Fiona Hill, Lieut. Colonel Alexander Vindman and Mark Sandy.

Time chose to select category winners instead of recognizing runner-ups in part because the magazine is now independently owned and no longer a part of a conglomerate, Felsenthal told CNN Business. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne Benioff bought Time Magazine from Meredith Corp last year.

“All the titles at Time Inc. began out of Time and then we were part of a company. That was great, but now being on our own, in this moment, where we can reclaim that heritage. These are all areas we cover, always have covered, but within Time Inc., there were some restrictions on what we could do so we’re excited about it,” Felsenthal said.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/12/11/teen-climate-activist-greta-thunberg-named-time-person-of-the-year/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/12/11/teen-climate-activist-greta-thunberg-named-time-person-of-the-year/

[celebritylive]

Greta Thunberg is clapping back at her “haters” and anyone who refuses to believe that climate change is real.

The Swedish 16-year-old climate activist, who gave an impassioned speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York on Monday, shared her thoughts on Twitter on Wednesday about those who are choosing to point out her “differences.”

“Here we go again… As you may have noticed, the haters are as active as ever – going after me, my looks, my clothes, my behaviour and my differences. They come up with every thinkable lie and conspiracy theory,” Thunberg, who was nominated for a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize back in March, wrote to begin her thread.

“It seems they will cross every possible line to avert the focus, since they are so desperate not to talk about the climate and ecological crisis. Being different is not an illness and the current, best available science is not opinions – it’s facts,” she continued.

“I honestly don’t understand why adults would choose to spend their time mocking and threatening teenagers and children for promoting science, when they could do something good instead. I guess they must simply feel so threatened by us,” Thunberg went on, before concluding, “But don’t waste your time giving them any more attention. The world is waking up. Change is coming wether they like it or not.

“See you in the streets this Friday!” referencing the ongoing climate strikes she has been leading.

RELATED: How Climate Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Greta Thunberg ‘Destroys’ Asperger’s Stigma

Thunberg added several hashtags as well: “#fridaysforfuture #schoolstrike4climate #climatestrike #aspiepower“

On Tuesday, Thunberg shared a similar tweet, discussing how although her Asperger’s diagnosis is something that her “haters” target her for, she doesn’t let it get her down. Since sharing the tweet, she has become role model for others with Asperger’s, even igniting the hashtag “Autistics for Greta” on Twitter.

“When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go,” she said in her Tuesday tweet. “And then you know you’re winning! I have Aspergers and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And – given the right circumstances- being different is a superpower.”

RELATED: What to Know About Teen Climate Activist Greta Thunberg and the Global Climate Strike Marches

According to Autism Speaks, Asperger’s is characterized by having difficulty with social interactions, restricted interests, a desire for sameness and distinctive strengths, like “remarkable” focus and persistence, an aptitude for recognizing patterns and attention to detail.

Thunberg has certainly turned those characteristics into her superpowers, as she has not only spoken to Congress and the U.N., but led the largest climate strike of all time last Friday.

View this post on Instagram ‪School strike. Week 57. ‬ ‪New York City. #ClimateStrike #FridaysForFuture #schoolstrike4climate ‬

A post shared by Greta Thunberg (@gretathunberg) on Sep 20, 2019 at 9:58am PDT

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

Speaking about her diagnosis, she told CBS This Morning earlier this month that “it can definitely be an advantage to have some kind of neurotypical diagnosis, to be neurodiverse, because that makes you different, that makes you think differently.”

“And especially in such a big crisis like this, when we need to think outside the box,” she continued. “We need to think outside our current system, we need people who think outside the box and who aren’t like everyone else.”

Thunberg arrived in New York in late August after a two-week voyage aboard a solar-powered sailboat to avoid flying. The teenager has also been leading youth climate strikes for the past several months, and founded “Fridays for Future,” a global movement that encourages students to walk out of their classrooms against inaction toward climate change.

from PEOPLE.com https://ift.tt/2nmgpV3

[courtneytincher]

Greta Thunberg to Congress: ‘You’re not trying hard enough. Sorry’

The Swedish environmentalist was one of several who spoke at a Senate climate crisis task forceGreta Thunberg attends a Senate climate change task force meeting in Washington DC. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesAt a meeting of the Senate climate crisis task force on Tuesday, lawmakers praised a group of young activists for their leadership, their gumption and their display of wisdom far beyond their years. They then asked the teens for their advice on how Congress might combat global warming – one of the most urgent and politically contentious threats confronting world leaders. Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish activist who has galvanized young people across the world to strike for more action to combat the impact of global warming, politely reminded them that she was a student, not a scientist – or a senator.“Please save your praise, we don’t want it,” she said. “Don’t invite us here to tell us how inspiring we are without doing anything about it. It doesn’t lead to anything.“If you want advice for what you should do, invite scientists, ask scientists for their expertise. We don’t want to be heard. We want the science to be heard.”In remarks meant for all Congress as a whole, she said: “I know you are trying but just not hard enough. Sorry.”The audience laughed. Supporters broke into applause. Senator Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who co-sponsored the Green New Deal and leads the Senate task force, perhaps seemed surprised by her bluntness. He smiled.Seated at the table were some of the most sympathetic and vocal supporters of bold action on climate change. But blocked by a Republican-controlled Senate and a hostile White House, the political prospect of enacting sweeping reform before the 2020 presidential election is bleak.“We need your leadership, young people are the army politically, which has arrived in the United States,” he told Thunberg. “You put a spotlight on this issue in a way that it has never been before. And that is creating a new X factor.”Acknowledging their skepticism, Markey said: “We hear you. We hear what you’re saying and we will redouble our efforts.”Thunberg was one of several young activists who spoke at the meeting, which was held in the bowels of the Capitol during two days of action and speeches aimed at urging lawmakers to support “transformative climate action”. She was joined by activists from across the US and South America, part of a “multiracial, intergenerational” effort to combat climate change.The meetings and speeches were intended to raise awareness ahead of a global climate strike on Friday in which students and workers will walk out of schools and offices to demand global action, as world leaders gather in New York for the annual United Nations summit.Nadia Nazar, co founder of Zero Hour, speaks to the media on 17 September in Washington DC. Photograph: Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images“The generation of the Green New Deal will not only survive but we will thrive,” said Nadia Nazar, co-founder of the advocacy group Zero Hour, at a news conference earlier on Tuesday.“We will no longer be known as the kids fighting the apocalypse. We will be known as the solution to the climate crisis.”In the US, support for sweeping action on climate change is polarized. Many Republicans – among them the president – are still openly skeptical of the science behind global warming. Republican leaders have mocked Democrats for introducing a Green New Deal and have used the sweeping proposal as a cudgel against lawmakers and presidential candidates.Markey said the urgency of the movement is shifting the political landscape. The senator pointed to the 2020 presidential debates as evidence of what has changed. Candidates are being asked about climate change and pushed to introduce plans to combat global warming. This is in stark contrast to 2016.“What has happened? You have happened,” Markey told the activists. “You are giving this extra level of energy to the political process that is absolutely changing the dynamics of politics in the United States.”The 2020 election, he said, will in many ways be a “referendum on climate change”.Thunberg arrived in the US after crossing the Atlantic on a solar-powered yacht. She rose to international prominence after launching “Fridays for Future”: student-led strikes that have spread to 135 countries. She has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.Later on Tuesday, the group was scheduled to meet Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal in the House.On Wednesday, Thunberg will deliver what has been billed as a “major address” to members of Congress.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

The Swedish environmentalist was one of several who spoke at a Senate climate crisis task forceGreta Thunberg attends a Senate climate change task force meeting in Washington DC. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesAt a meeting of the Senate climate crisis task force on Tuesday, lawmakers praised a group of young activists for their leadership, their gumption and their display of wisdom far beyond their years. They then asked the teens for their advice on how Congress might combat global warming – one of the most urgent and politically contentious threats confronting world leaders. Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish activist who has galvanized young people across the world to strike for more action to combat the impact of global warming, politely reminded them that she was a student, not a scientist – or a senator.“Please save your praise, we don’t want it,” she said. “Don’t invite us here to tell us how inspiring we are without doing anything about it. It doesn’t lead to anything.“If you want advice for what you should do, invite scientists, ask scientists for their expertise. We don’t want to be heard. We want the science to be heard.”In remarks meant for all Congress as a whole, she said: “I know you are trying but just not hard enough. Sorry.”The audience laughed. Supporters broke into applause. Senator Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who co-sponsored the Green New Deal and leads the Senate task force, perhaps seemed surprised by her bluntness. He smiled.Seated at the table were some of the most sympathetic and vocal supporters of bold action on climate change. But blocked by a Republican-controlled Senate and a hostile White House, the political prospect of enacting sweeping reform before the 2020 presidential election is bleak.“We need your leadership, young people are the army politically, which has arrived in the United States,” he told Thunberg. “You put a spotlight on this issue in a way that it has never been before. And that is creating a new X factor.”Acknowledging their skepticism, Markey said: “We hear you. We hear what you’re saying and we will redouble our efforts.”Thunberg was one of several young activists who spoke at the meeting, which was held in the bowels of the Capitol during two days of action and speeches aimed at urging lawmakers to support “transformative climate action”. She was joined by activists from across the US and South America, part of a “multiracial, intergenerational” effort to combat climate change.The meetings and speeches were intended to raise awareness ahead of a global climate strike on Friday in which students and workers will walk out of schools and offices to demand global action, as world leaders gather in New York for the annual United Nations summit.Nadia Nazar, co founder of Zero Hour, speaks to the media on 17 September in Washington DC. Photograph: Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images“The generation of the Green New Deal will not only survive but we will thrive,” said Nadia Nazar, co-founder of the advocacy group Zero Hour, at a news conference earlier on Tuesday.“We will no longer be known as the kids fighting the apocalypse. We will be known as the solution to the climate crisis.”In the US, support for sweeping action on climate change is polarized. Many Republicans – among them the president – are still openly skeptical of the science behind global warming. Republican leaders have mocked Democrats for introducing a Green New Deal and have used the sweeping proposal as a cudgel against lawmakers and presidential candidates.Markey said the urgency of the movement is shifting the political landscape. The senator pointed to the 2020 presidential debates as evidence of what has changed. Candidates are being asked about climate change and pushed to introduce plans to combat global warming. This is in stark contrast to 2016.“What has happened? You have happened,” Markey told the activists. “You are giving this extra level of energy to the political process that is absolutely changing the dynamics of politics in the United States.”The 2020 election, he said, will in many ways be a “referendum on climate change”.Thunberg arrived in the US after crossing the Atlantic on a solar-powered yacht. She rose to international prominence after launching “Fridays for Future”: student-led strikes that have spread to 135 countries. She has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.Later on Tuesday, the group was scheduled to meet Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal in the House.On Wednesday, Thunberg will deliver what has been billed as a “major address” to members of Congress.

September 17, 2019 at 09:51PM via IFTTT

[omgstupendousbouquetbasement]

Trump Heads to Switzerland Ahead of Impeachment Trial Presentations

With his impeachment trial in the Senate about to go into high gear, U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.  

Trump departed on Air Force One on Monday, the third anniversary of his inauguration as the 45th U.S. president.  

In Davos on Tuesday morning, Trump is to give a speech and — before returning to Washington on Wednesday afternoon — meet on the sidelines of the conference separately with several world leaders.  

On Trump's agenda, according to the White House, are talks with Iraqi President Barham Salih, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Swiss Confederation President Simonetta Sommaruga and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the president of the Kurdistan regional government, Nechirvan  Barzani.

The 3,000 participants at the invitation-only annual event will be outnumbered by nearly 5,000 military personnel and police.

A man dressed as a clown is part of hundreds of climate protesters who are on a three-day protest march from Landquart to Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 20, 2020.

Hundreds of protesters, some wearing koala bear costumes to highlight the devastating bushfires in Australia, and who want the global leaders at the forum to be more aggressive concerning climate change, headed to Davos via a hiking trail and a train after authorities banned foot traffic into the Alpine town.  

Climate and other environmental threats rank ahead of geopolitical worries and cyber attacks in an annual risks survey published last week by the World Economic Forum.  

Trump is a climate change skeptic but will share top billing at the conference with environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who will open a debate on avoiding a "climate apocalypse" two hours after the U.S. president's keynote speech.  

Trump mocked the Swedish teenager after she was named Time magazine's 2019 Person of the Year.  

"I think both voices are necessary," said WEF founder Klaus Schwab of Trump and Thunberg. "The environment will play a particularly important role during this meeting."

International trade

The invited guests, including numerous government leaders, "deserve commensurate security measures," Walter Schlegel, the regional police commander, told a news conference Monday. "The U.S. president has a big security detail that must be deployed."

Trump's presence at Davos, with more than 100 other billionaires in attendance, is "certain to spark controversy, as well as win praise in some corners," predicted Curtis Chin, a former U.S. ambassador to the Asian Development Bank.

A policeman wearing camouflage clothing stands on the rooftop of a hotel near the Congress Centre during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Jan. 20, 2020.

At his WEF appearance in 2018, "Trump declared that America First need not mean America alone. That same message will be put to the test again as Trump returns to Davos," Chin, the Milken Institute's Inaugural Asia Fellow, told VOA.  

James Jay Carafano, vice president of the institute focused on national security and foreign policy at The Heritage Foundation, said he hopes Trump spends some time at Davos looking forward on international trade.  

In the wake of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) and the first phase of a China trade deal signed, "It would be great from Trump to give another shot in the arm to economic freedom and free trade," Carafano told VOA.  

A free trade agreement with Switzerland and Taiwan would be "low hanging fruit," as well as a recommitment to a trade pact with post-Brexit Britain, according to Carafano.  

While Trump could use his Davos speech to take another jab at NATO members for commitments to not meeting goals on defense spending, Carafano said he hopes the president will positively mention the Three Seas Initiative, a 12-state initiative connecting the Adriatic, Baltic and Black seas region for economic and energy cooperation.

Impeachment trial

The president, however, is expected to keep one eye on the historic proceedings in the Senate where he is on trial on a charge of abuse of power and another of obstruction of Congress.

As the Senate impeachment trial reconvenes Tuesday afternoon — six hours ahead and 6,700 kilometers away in the Swiss Alps — Trump is scheduled to briefly dine with global business executives, but will then have ample time from his hotel suite to follow on television the proceedings on one of the most historic days of his presidency.  

Trump's legal team contends the impeachment articles brought by the House, controlled by the opposition Democrats, "are a dangerous perversion of the Constitution." His attorneys are calling for the Senate, controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans, to swiftly dismiss the charges.    

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