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Zinedine Zidane, porteur de la flamme olympique le 9 mai ?
Tony Estanguet a porté la flamme sur le pont du Belem ce samedi.
The new owner of a tunnel complex under London wants to attract millions of tourists a year.
La mort d'Alexei Navalny a été annoncée le 16 février 2024.
The Victory Day parade last May in Moscow. Russia is allocating nearly a third of its overall 2024 budget to military spending.
Journalist had shared a social media post in 2022 about Russia’s suspected war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha
Iraqi woman, famous for her light-hearted content on social media, was shot dead inside her car
The Place de la Concorde in Paris is one of the sites where construction work for the Olympics is taking place.
Representative Mark Pocan at a town hall in Dodgeville, Wis., one of several he held recently in his district.
The heavy metal band Voice of Baceprot during a concert in Jakarta, Indonesia, in December.
British tourist Peter Smith was attacked by a bull shark as he reportedly swam just 30ft from the shore in Tobago on Friday
La flamme olympique a embarqué dans le Belem ce samedi matin à Athènes.
Le président russe Vladimir Poutine à Saint-Pétersbourg, le 26 avril 2024.
Il y aura des athlètes palestiniens aux Jeux olympiques, a assuré Thomas Bach.
Khymani James apologises for talk of ‘murdering Zionists’, saying he misspoke in heat of moment
«Facebook a modifié son algorithme pour promouvoir les contenus les plus conflictuels possibles, car c'est ce qui augmente l'engagement» des utilisateurs estime Aaron Sorkin.
Thomas Bach, le président du CIO.
ChatGPT et Google Bard.
Benji Backer may lean right, but his forward-looking solutions can transcend the political spectrum.
The Conservative Environmentalist: Common Sense Solutions For a Sustainable Future, Benji Backer, Sentinel, 256 pages
Benji Backer shows his cards in his new book, The Conservative Environmentalist: Common Sense Solutions For a Sustainable Future. Yes, this twenty-something leans to starboard; he describes the group he founded, the American Conservation Coalition, as “the largest right-of-center environmental organization in the country.”
Indeed, Backer deserves credit for reviving “conservation,” the word favored by the greatest environmentalist—oops, make that conservationist—among America’s presidents, Theodore Roosevelt. Backer writes TR was “an avid hunter and fisherman” who “made conserving America’s natural resources a national priority.”
The 26th president waxed lyrical about nature: “There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value.” Yet TR was no green in the sense that the word is used nowadays: to describe an absolutist, oftentimes elitist, almost always Malthusian, mentality. Mindful that people matter, too, Roosevelt said in the very next breath, “Conservation means development as much as it does protection.”
A century later, Backer echoes that realistic proportionality; words such as “tradeoff” and “balance” dot the book. Yet he does bring a specific point of view. As Backer tells us early on, he’s from a burg in the boonies of Wisconsin, and he retains a guiding empathy for those folks and their ways. “Growing up in a small Midwestern city nestled among dairy farms and forests as far as the eye can see, I witnessed rural America hard at work…I assumed that everyone else recognized rural America’s value too.” Then the jolt: “When I moved to Seattle to go to college, I learned how wrong I was.” As he puts it, when he heard his new classmates belittle rustics, “My stomach turned. (To this day, it still does.)”
So it’s easy for him to describe the circumstances that make rural America red America. Describing the facts confronting a farmer: “sweeping top-down regulations to combat carbon emissions”; “your fuel costs double or triple because of a new tax that penalizes users of fossil fuels”; “you’re also paying a higher electricity bill as electricity companies raise rates to cover the installation of thousands of new EV charging stations across your state.”
Given his woodsy background, Backer is especially scathing on forest management—a classic TR-type issue. Since today’s greens want the forests to be unmanaged, the fires burn worse. California’s wildfires, just in the year 2020, emitted more greenhouse gases than any reductions the state had made in the previous two decades. Writes Backer: “Twenty years of effort completely gone to waste!”
So while Backer is clearly a nature lover, and maybe even a tree-hugger, he keeps a clear head and a keen eye: “We need solutions that work for everyone, not just the folks for whom buying a new EV and adding solar panels to their house is convenient.” Lest anyone fail to catch where he is headed, “Introducing sweeping one-size-fits-all policies that harm local communities and ruin the livelihoods of thousands of rural dwellers is simply anti-democratic and anti-American.” Want more fair and balanced-ness? Okay: “In thinking about how to solve climate change, it’s imperative that we give farmers, oil field workers and coal miners a voice too.”
So there’s no scourging or hair-shirting or self-loathing in this book. Instead, there’s a lot of problem-solving. Chapter titles such as “Utilizing America’s Competitive Spirit to Build a Cleaner, Brighter Future” and “Innovating Our Way Out of the Energy Crisis,” stamp Backer as one part Thomas Edison, one part George Gilder, and one part Bjørn Lomborg. After all, if new technology can solve the problem, there’s no need to wallow in it or guilt-trip on it—and there’s also no reason not to solve it. In Backer’s telling, there’s a middle ground between Fox News and MSNBC: higher, and more constructive.
So when the author writes of permitting reform—streamlining environmental impact statements and all that—he’s talking a language that some on the left are talking, too.
For instance, the New York Times’ Ezra Klein has been writing about “state capacity”—the capacity to do things, to avoid the fate of California’s boondoggled high-speed rail—for years now. And just last year, Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, rebuilt a collapsed part of Interstate 95 in a matter of weeks. More of this sort of Can Do, please. Whoever does it should reap the credit.
So Backer’s Conservative Environmentalist can really be seen as the Practical Environmentalist. Let’s fix the things that need fixing—Backer cites removing lead from gasoline and the atmosphere as a great triumph for public health—while still keeping in mind that some fixes have made things worse.
For instance, Backer is unsparing on the perverse economics of electric cars, not only in the U.S., but around the world. In Norway, the immediate subsidy for an electric car is more than $25,000, as well as other breaks, such as reduced tolls. And yet, Backer calculates, “In order to cut one ton of CO2 emissions through the subsidization of electric cars, Norway has to sell one hundred barrels of oil, which emit forty tons of CO2.” Perhaps some day, EVs will be green-dream transportation, but as of now, for the vast majority—especially the peeps in Backer’s neck of the woods—they’re still a dream.
Speaking of fond reveries, Backer punctures the hopes of sun worshipers, at least in the near term: “The US and the rest of the world should not have to depend on subsidized, circumvented imports made by forced labor to build our solar energy future.” Elsewhere, Backer notes that the Chinese communists burn a lot of coal to make those solar panels.
Yet, as he points out, there’s something akin solar energy right under our feet: The core of the Earth is nearly 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit—about the same temperature as the surface of the Sun. So, he asks, Why aren’t we using more geothermal energy?
One big challenge—a steady theme in this book—is the deadening hand of government regulation: “It’s impossible for a five-hundred-page federal government bill to handle all of the intricacies of our vastly different communities and their needs.” So why, he wonders, “are we always starting at the top to try to solve climate change when we should be starting at an individual and local level first? Why not tap into the rich resources of the private sector and the entrepreneurial spirit that has characterized America as a world leader of innovation?” Why not indeed, other than the risk of being picketed by Greenpeace?
Backer does not shrink from the challenge of climate change, which he regards as a serious threat. Nor does he shrink from ideas about accommodating human needs, including the need for good-paying jobs, while seeking a solution.
He notes that carbon fuels account for 80 percent of the world’s energy supply—and that’s not about to change, at least no time soon. So while he holds out plenty of hope for the “all of the above” of geothermal, nuclear, and solar, he also emphasizes carbon capture. It’s a simple enough point: If there’s too much CO2 in the atmosphere, take it out.
Backer starts with that lowest-tech (unless you count God’s hand as tech) tool for carbon capture, the tree. “Now that is the most powerful carbon sequestration technology I’ve ever seen!” In fact, most industrial processes involve some sort of carbon conversion. For instance, 65 percent of the world’s textiles come from artificial sources, such as polyester—which is to say, they come from carbon-based feedstocks.
So we can see right there: A large wardrobe of artificial fabrics is a carbon sink.
Joking aside, carbon fuels, properly thought through, are fully circular, and even renewable. Dig up carbon, burn it, capture it, use it again. Hardcore greens will never accept this sort of circularity, because it’s against their religion. But that’s okay, everyone else can learn to love having their carbon and capturing it, too. That’s the broad pro-energy, pro-clean coalition normies need.
Speaking for the normies, Backer writes, “We can move forward only if we put political tribalism aside and rise above the noise of scare tactics and denialism. Only then will our generation of environmentalists be able to stand together.” Turning problems into win-wins isn’t particularly conservative, or particularly liberal. But it is practical. And popular—as in, winning elections popular.
The post The Practical Environmentalist appeared first on The American Conservative.
The Chinese Embassy in Berlin. Arrests this week in Germany and Britain suggest not so much that Beijing has ramped up espionage work but that European countries have stepped up their response.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed a controversial bill on Friday allowing teachers to carry concealed handguns in schools.
The post Tennessee Gov. Signs Bill Allowing Teachers to Carry Concealed Guns appeared first on Breitbart.
Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) and Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) signed Second Amendment privacy acts this week barring the use of credit card merchant codes to collect data on retail firearm purchasers.
The post Tennessee, Georgia, Adopt 2A Privacy Acts to Bar Data Collection on Firearm Sales appeared first on Breitbart.
U.S. District Court judge William S. Stickman decided this week against Pennsylvania's prohibition on 18-20-year-olds securing a concealed carry permit in order to be armed on their persons for self-defense.
The post Federal Judge Finds Pennsylvania Law Barring 18-20 Year-Olds from Concealed Carry Unconstitutional appeared first on Breitbart.
A California former middle school teacher has pleaded no contest to sexual abuse charges after being arrested last year for having sex with a 14-year-old boy in a locked classroom.
The post California Teacher Pleads ‘No Contest’ to Sex with Middle Schooler in Locked Classroom appeared first on Breitbart.
On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated that it’s “not clear” that it’s even possible for Israel to have “a credible plan” for an invasion of Rafah that the White House
The post White House: ‘Not Clear’ Israel Can Have Rafah Offensive Plan That Would Satisfy Us appeared first on Breitbart.
Two New York representatives are considering a bill that would send "antisemitism monitors" to visit college and university campuses that receive federal funding.
The post New York Lawmakers Considering Legislation to Create ‘Antisemitism Monitors’ on College Campuses appeared first on Breitbart.
The sentate voted on Friday as protests over the Israel-Gaza war continued on campuses across the country
Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said Thursday on MSNBC's "The ReidOut" that the Supreme Court should be moved to the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters after their questions during the oral arguments on immunity for former President Donald Trump.
The post Raskin: Supreme Court Should Be Moved ‘Over to the RNC Headquarters’ appeared first on Breitbart.
David Pecker concluded his week-long testimony, ushering in two more witnesses, both of whom mentioned Stormy Daniels
On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby stated that Hamas doesn’t care about the Palestinian people and if they did, “they’d lay down their arms, they’d step aside, they’d release those hostages,”
The post White House: There Are ‘Too Many Civilian Casualties’ in Israel’s War, ‘The Number Needs to Be Zero’ appeared first on Breitbart.
An anti-war movement is spreading on college campuses across America and beyond. Protests have been met with police violence, mass arrests and an unbending political class — all of which have only fuelled the demonstrations further. A hot summer of protest looms, and the stage is set for a showdown at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, writes Richard Hall
Detainees look out from fenced-in areas as a guard closes a door in Camp Echo 1 detention facility on the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in November 2008.
In stark contrast to the Trump who mugs for camera crews outside the doors, in court the former president appears isolated and small, Oliver O’Connell and Alex Woodward write
Christian Glass was shot dead in June 2022 by then-Clear Creek Deputy Andrew Buen after calling 911 when his car was stuck: That much was never in dispute. On Friday, a jury found Buen guilty of reckless endangerment – but couldn’t agree if he was guilty of murder.
Several universities in Israel have called out the increasing antisemitism happening on university and college campuses in the United States, offering "support" to faculty and students.
The post Israeli Universities Offer ‘Support’ to Jewish Students, Faculty appeared first on Breitbart.
During a portion of an interview with CNN National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood on Friday that was aired on Friday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “One World,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken reacted to demonstrations on college campuses by stating that “we
The post Blinken: Biden Admin. Taking College Protests ‘Into Account’ on Israel Policy, But We Won’t Cut Israel Off appeared first on Breitbart.
Multiple reports indicate that Hollywood director Steven Spielberg is strategically working with President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign and is helping to plan the Democratic National Convention.
The post Report: Steven Spielberg ‘Involved Strategically’ in Biden Campaign, Convention Planning appeared first on Breitbart.
In an interview on Friday, the president described how he had turned to alcohol after the car crash that killed Neilia Biden and their 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, in 1972
The Biden administration is trying to have it both ways by not directly mentioning the word transgender but protecting them anyway.
The post Biden Admin Shielding Transgender Athletes Behind Title IX Pronoun Requirements appeared first on Breitbart.
It is unlikely that the Fed will cut rates at all this year; and, if inflation stays hot, it may find that it will need to begin a new cycle of rate hikes sometime next year.
The post Breitbart Business Digest: There Are No Fed Cuts Ahead This Year appeared first on Breitbart.
"Hunter Got High," the new single featuring Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman, debuted this week along with a searing satirical video that brings to life Hunter Biden's many scandals, as well as his miraculous ability thus far to walk away from the political infernos relatively unscathed.
The post Watch: Afroman Teams With Nashville Hit Songwriter for ‘Hunter Got High’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Two Ohio lawmakers are jumping into the fray to get famed Cincinnati Reds player Pete Rose into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The post Ohio Lawmakers Push Resolution to Put Pete Rose in Baseball Hall of Fame appeared first on Breitbart.
Paramedic Jeremy Cooper, who injected Elijah McClain with ketamine during an August 2019 police stop that led to the 23-year-old’s death, was sentenced on Friday to probation – marking the end to a series of trials and sentencings for officers and EMTs involved
Search for three-year-old passes two-month mark
A Las Vegas substitute teacher got into a fight with a high schooler whom he had asked to leave the classroom for using a racial slur.
The post Watch: Las Vegas Substitute Teacher Brawls with Student for Using the ‘N-Word’ appeared first on Breitbart.
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