China Chokes on Smog as World Climate Change Talks Begin in Paris (VIDEO)

China just released some catastrophic report on the coming climate change apocalypse.

See, the Boston Globe, "Chinese assessment of climate change depicts grim scenarios."

But I think the Chinese should worry about their own backyard --- and refrain from lecturing the international community about catastrophic scenarios --- considering the literally unlivable conditions in Beijing, and I suspect the other major Chinese urban centers.

Watch this mind-boggling report from Beijing just today, from Seth Doane, at CBS News This Morning:

Developing Countries Announce 'Global Solar Alliance' to Combat Climate Change

Solar energy accounts for about 1 percent of global energy supply, so India's Narendra Modi has his work cut out for him.

At the Guardian UK, "India unveils global solar alliance of 120 countries at Paris climate summit":

India’s prime minister has launched an international solar alliance of over 120 countries with the French president, François Hollande, at the Paris COP21 climate summit.

Narendra Modi told a press conference that as fossil fuels put the planet in peril, hopes for future prosperity in the developing world now rest on bold initiatives.

“Solar technology is evolving, costs are coming down and grid connectivity is improving,” he said. “The dream of universal access to clean energy is becoming more real. This will be the foundation of the new economy of the new century.”

Modi described the solar alliance as “the sunrise of new hope, not just for clean energy but for villages and homes still in darkness, for mornings and evening filled with a clear view of the glory of the sun”.

Earlier, France’s climate change ambassador, Laurence Tubiana, had called the group “a true game-changer”.

While signatory nations mostly hail from the tropics, several European countries are also on board with the initiative, including France.

Hollande described the project as climate justice in action, mobilising public finance from richer states to help deliver universal energy access.

“What we are putting in place is an avant garde of countries that believe in renewable energies,” he told a press conference in Paris. “What we are showing here is an illustration of the future Paris accord, as this initiative gives meaning to sharing technology and mobilising financial resources in an example of what we wish to do in the course of the climate conference.”

The Indian government is investing an initial $30m (£20m) in setting up the alliance’s headquarters in India. The eventual goal is to raise $400m from membership fees, and international agencies.

Companies involved in the project include Areva, Engie, Enel, HSBC France and Tata Steel...

Keep reading.

World Leaders in Paris Vow to Overcome Divisions on Climate Change

I'd like to see how they're actually going to overcome these divisions, because any global climate change agreement is going to suffer from a major collective action problem.

At WSJ, "President Barack Obama calls on countries to ‘rise to this moment’":

PARIS—World leaders on Monday vowed to finish a deal to curb greenhouse gases and overcome a thorny divide on financing, as they kicked off international climate talks against a backdrop of heavy security.

President Barack Obama called on governments to develop a long-term framework to cut greenhouse emissions, saying the time is coming when it will be too late. He pledged the U.S. would do its part to slow the warming of the planet, and urged other countries to “rise to this moment.”

“I’ve come here personally as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter to say that the U.S. not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it,” Mr. Obama said.

At a heavily guarded airport complex just two weeks after terrorist attacks killed 130 people, other leaders from Russian President Vladimir Putin to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon underscored the urgency of addressing global warming in the two-week conference, dubbed the Cop 21.

Evidence of a long-standing divide quickly re-emerged. Developing countries said the richest nations that have emitted the most carbon dioxide must do more to finance a transition to greener energy and help prepare poor countries to stave off the early effects of a changing climate.

Developing countries want their highly industrialized peers to make good on pledges to mobilize $100 billion a year in public and private climate financing from 2020 onward. Some officials have warned they won’t support a deal in Paris that doesn’t deliver high levels of funding. Any agreement would require the consent of nearly 200 countries.

To help bridge the divide, several rich countries unveiled programs to boost funding. Germany, Norway and the U.K. said they would provide $1 billion a year until 2020 for payment based on emissions reductions from forests and improved land use.

Mr. Obama and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates unveiled a multibillion-dollar program involving 20 countries to boost green-energy research and development.

Yet another commitment Monday—from Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland—would provide $500 million for projects in poorer countries via the World Bank.

Emerging economies made it clear that to conclude a deal in Paris, they want to see more progress in the 2020 goal and perhaps even more funding afterward.

“Developed countries should honor their commitment of mobilizing $100 billion each year before 2020 and provide stronger support to developing countries afterwards,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said, adding that Beijing would also help finance poorer countries through its own funding vehicle.

South African President Jacob Zuma said rich countries have a “historic responsibility” to at least meet the $100 billion target.

Just before officials gathered, India slammed an October estimate on how much financing rich countries have provided to poorer countries, saying the “methodologies were inconsistent.” The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which produced the estimate, sees India’s criticism as “misjudged and inaccurate,” according to Simon Buckle, head of climate change at the organization representing highly industrialized countries.

Ahead of the Paris talks, most of the countries involved submitted their own plans for curbing emissions of greenhouse gases linked to climate change or boosting the share of green energy after 2020.

An accord clinched in Paris would codify those national plans, part of an original goal to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels...

Sounds like a pretty sophisticated shakedown scam to me. Jacob Zuma? The guy's a freakin' crook.

But keep reading, in any case.

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Scientists Dispute 2-Degree Model Guiding Climate Talks

Well, they're gonna get thrown out of the "tribe."

At WSJ:

The single most important benchmark underpinning this week’s talks in Paris on climate change—two degrees Celsius—has guided climate-treaty discussions for decades, but some scientists question the validity of the target.

Many researchers have argued that a rise in the planet’s average global air temperature of two degrees or more above preindustrial levels would usher in catastrophic climate change. But many others argue that is a somewhat arbitrary threshold based on tenuous research, and therefore an impractical spur to policy action.

“It emerged from a political agenda, not a scientific analysis,” says Mark Maslin, professor of climatology at University College London. “It’s not a sensible, rational target because the models give you a range of possibilities, not a single answer.”

Policy makers tend to assume the two-degree target expresses a solid scientific view, but it doesn’t. The exhaustive reports published by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are considered to be the most comprehensive analysis of the science of global warming. Yet the two-degree limit isn’t mentioned in a single IPCC report.

Still, many scientists are willing to back the goal because they see it as giving policy makers a clear-cut target to shoot at in the fight against global warming...

Okay, so far so good. But then you get this doozy:

Most climatologists agree that the earth is getting warmer and that the emission of greenhouse gases is the main driver of this change. But the question of when a catastrophic tipping point might be reached is up in the air...

Um, greenhouse gases are not the main driver. Frankly, we don't know what the main driver is. It could be anything. We're talking about the whole damned earth and the freakin' solar system. The number of possible variables is staggering.

But Professor Maslin's right: It's a political agenda, not a scientific program.

But keep reading.

Oxford University Women's Rugby Team Strips Down to Raise Money for Charity

Heh, these ladies are in great shape!

At WWTDD, "Oxford University Female Rugby Team Nude Calendar."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Oxford University women's rugby players strip off ahead of Twickenham debut against Cambridge to raise money for charity."

Last Boeing C-17 Leaves Long Beach Assembly Plant (VIDEO)

End of an era.

At Boeing, on Twitter, "Last #Boeing C-17 Globemaster III departs Long Beach Airport TODAY noon Pacific."

Also, "I was here for the first 24 years and I am here for the last. Goodbye C-17. Thanks for the memories."

YouTube video here, "C-17 Beoing Last departure from Long Beach Airport."

Plus, reports at KTLA News 5 Los Angeles, "Last Boeing C-17 flight leaves Long Beach, ending era of California aircraft manufacturing," and LAT, "Last Boeing C-17 takes flight as California aerospace era ends."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



More at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES," and Theo Spark's, "Sunday Cartoons..."

Still more at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Jihadist in a Box."

Cartoon Credit: The Economist.

'Physical' USC Beats UCLA 40-21 at Coliseum, Clinches Pac-12 South Title (VIDEO)

Everybody was using the adjective "physical" to describe USC's mauling of the virtually hapless UCLA Bruins in yesterday's citywide rivalry thriller.

At the O.C. Register, for example, "Physical, opportunistic USC beats UCLA, 40-21, clinches Pac-12 South title."

Also at the L.A. Times, "USC turns on the power to beat UCLA, 40-21, and advance to Pac-12 title game."

More, from Bill Plaschke, "This victory removes all doubt: Make Clay Helton USC's permanent football coach":

Every hit was a prayer. Every run was a plea. Every time a USC player punched a UCLA player in the mouth on a bruising, revealing afternoon at the Coliseum, there was a message.

Hire Clay Helton.

It was heard when Adoree' Jackson caught a punt, shrugged off a shot by Cameron Judge and raced 42 yards for a touchdown. It resounded when Claude Pelon racked Josh Rosen into a fumble that was carried 31 yards by Rasheem Green for a touchdown. It echoed when Darreus Rogers bullied through the grasp of Nate Meadors for a touchdown.

Hashtag Helton2016.

Pat Haden had to be listening. The Trojans alumni and boosters are surely understanding. There is absolutely no way anyone with any Trojans influence can argue against the reality of what is happening.

In the wake of USC's 40-21 blasting of UCLA on Saturday, it is clear that Clay Helton should be named the Trojans' permanent head coach, and it should happen now.

Don't wait for the outcome of the game against highly ranked Stanford in next week's Pac-12 Conference championship bout. How fair is it to judge an interim coach with a 6-2 record, a bowl victory, a win over UCLA and six decorated years on the USC staff on whether he can lead a team from the dregs of a distracted season to the Rose Bowl?

Save the announcement for after the game to avoid distraction, but get the news conference and paperwork ready now. The coronation occurred Saturday, when Helton's culture change was brutally evident in how the Trojans outmuscled, outhustled and simply outfought a Bruins team that had spent the previous three seasons beating them double-digit senseless...

Keep reading.

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Nina Agdal Holiday Wrapping for Michael Kors (VIDEO)

I'm behind on my Nina Agdal blogging.

She's perfect.



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Robert Lewis Dear Registered to Vote as 'Unaffiliated Female'

This guy was a literal psycho.

At Gateway Pundit, "COURT RECORDS: Colorado Planned Parenthood Shooter NOT Republican, Identifies as Woman."

And ICYMI, "'Our society has been persuaded by liberals that the demented and deranged should never be criticized because criticism might hurt their feelings. Wackos and lunatics are very sensitive people, we are required to believe, and deserve our sympathy...'"

Brazilian Beauty Mariane Tarrafel Strips Down

At Egotastic!, "MARIANE TARRAFEL STRIPS OUT OF HER LINGERIE."

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Daniela Lopez Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Casting Call (VIDEO)

A nice Sunday treat.

'Our society has been persuaded by liberals that the demented and deranged should never be criticized because criticism might hurt their feelings. Wackos and lunatics are very sensitive people, we are required to believe, and deserve our sympathy...'

Heh.

Yeah, let's let all the wackos out of mental institutions. Wait. Leftists already did that.

But see Robert Stacy McCain, "Crazy People Are Dangerous":

"A divorced Waffle House waitress goes online looking for love and finds this weirdo loner." https://t.co/p58yALi978 pic.twitter.com/GfeLvJBIAY

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) November 29, 2015

Liberals tell us it is heartless and “mean-spirited” to suggest that public safety would be best served if mentally ill people with histories of dangerous behavior were locked up in psychiatric wards. Americans are told that it’s OK to let delusional and antisocial freaks roam around free in our society, because what could possibly go wrong?

When one of these dangerous kooks who roam among us finally commits the kind of crazy violence, however, liberals quickly rush to tell us that his insane actions have some kind of political significance and that the proper response to this atrocity is — wait for it — more liberalism. Another crazy killer, therefore, vote Democrat!

Liberalism would be laughable, if it were not so deadly...

More at the Washington post, "Alleged Colorado gunman was adrift and alienated."

And at the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "Robert Dear, Suspect in Colorado Killings, ‘Preferred to Be Left Alone’."

Liz Kelley, High School English Teacher in Ballwin, Mo., Has Accrued $410,000 in Student Loan Debt

That just seems impossible to me.

Do people even consider the possibility that they might have to pay this money back? I guess not.

At the New York Times, "Student Debt in America: Lend With a Smile, Collect With a Fist":

The American student loan crisis is often seen as a problem of profligacy and predation. Wasteful colleges raise tuition every year, we are told, even as middle-class wages stagnate and unscrupulous for-profit colleges bilk the unwary. The result is mounting unmanageable debt.

There is much truth in this diagnosis. But it does not explain the plight of Liz Kelley, a Missouri high school teacher and mother of four who made a series of unremarkable decisions about college and borrowing. She now owes the federal government $410,000, and counting.

This is a staggering and unusual sum. The average undergraduate who borrows leaves school with about $30,000 in debt. But Ms. Kelley’s circumstances are not unique. Of the 43.3 million borrowers with outstanding federal student loans, 1.8 percent, or 779,000 people, owe $150,000 or more. And 346,000 owe more than $200,000.

Ms. Kelley’s debt woes are also mostly a matter of interest, not principal, a growing problem for the nation’s student debtors. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the number of active borrowers enrolled in college has declined to roughly nine million today from about 12 million in 2010. Yet the total amount of outstanding debt continues to increase, because many borrowers are not paying back their older loans.

This is partly a function of continuing economic hardship. But it also reflects how the federal government has become the biggest, nicest and meanest student lender in the world.

Ms. Kelley, 48, first enrolled in college in 1990 at Maryville University, a private school near St. Louis. She was a nontraditional student, already married with children. She took out loans to help pay tuition, and by the time she graduated with a degree in English in 1994, the total was $26,278, which is the inflation-adjusted equivalent of about $42,000 in 2015. This is not an unusual sum. The typical private college graduate who borrows holds $32,600 in debt.

Then as now, the job market was not clamoring for English majors. Practicing law and teaching seemed like the best options, and Ms. Kelley chose the former. Entering law school also allowed her to delay repaying her undergraduate student loans. She again borrowed for tuition, $37,000 for the first three semesters, which is also a fairly typical amount. Law school graduates today often have six-figure loans...

You can see where this is going.

I think on the regular federal student loans you have deferred interest until 6 months after graduation, when you have to start making payments. That's what I did. But not this lady. She kept borrowing for more schooling while her old loans starting accruing.

Whoa.

More here.

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Climate Skeptic Judith Curry Says She Was 'Tossed Out of the Tribe...'

Heh.

At Instapundit, "TRIBALISM IS NOT SCIENCE. SO YEAH. ‘I was tossed out of the tribe’: climate scientist Judith Curry interviewed."

London Antiwar Protest Against Syria Airstrikes (VIDEO)

At the Guardian UK, "Syria airstrike protesters rally across UK - as it happened."

Black Friday Online Sales Far Outpace Brick-and-Mortor Shopping Numbers

At IBD, "Has Black Friday Jumped the Shark? Importance Fading?":

Black Friday's importance as the key shopping day of the year is ending, observers say, as Thanksgiving Day sales zoom and easy mobile shopping makes other days just as important.

The strong trend of online sales growth far surpassing offline sales continues, though.

Cowen analyst Oliver Chen estimates that while online traffic during Black Friday weekend will rise 20% vs. a year earlier, in-store traffic will fall 2% to 4%.

Online sales have enjoyed double-digit growth rates since the dawn of the e-commerce era.

Adobe Systems' (NASDAQ: ADBE) Adobe Digital Index, which says it measures 80% of all online transactions from the top 100 U.S. retailers, said sales between midnight and 11 a.m. ET Friday rose 15% from the year-earlier period, to $822 million.

Thanksgiving Day online shopping, however, jumped 25% vs. Thanksgiving 2014, to $1.72 billion.

Third-party sales even on top site Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) grew far greater year-over-year on Thanksgiving than they will on Black Friday, Scot Wingo, executive chairman of Channel Advisor (NYSE: ECOM), a firm that helps third parties sell on e-com sites, told IBD.

"Thanksgiving came on the scene two years ago, and it's really blown the doors off," Wingo said. Black Friday growth, on the other hand, was "OK," he said.

"This is the year we'll look back and say Black Friday jumped the shark," Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD Group, told IBD...

Still more.