Beyond Labels

Review of Oliver Stone’s Putin interviews in Foreign Policy

Shallowness in public discourse

Origin of CNN

USMC Commandant’s Reading List 2017

Reading List  2011

Reading List 2012-2014

Mattis 2007 Reading List

Another Mattis Reading List

Benjamin Franklin on Choosing a Mistress

Pelosi, “You have to pass it to find out what’s in it…” is a misstatement:

Vox here and context here.

“You’ve heard about the controversies, the process about the bill…but we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it – away from the fog of the controversy.”

Goals of the Paris climate agreement (wikipedia)

Aims

The aim of the convention is described in Article 2, “enhancing the implementation” of the UNFCCC through:^[8]

“(a) Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change;

(b) Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production;

(c) Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.”

Countries furthermore aim to reach “global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible”. The agreement has been described as an incentive for and driver of fossil fuel divestment.^[9][10]

The Paris deal is the world’s first comprehensive climate agreement.^[11]

The sixth extinction (Wikipedia, Atlantic review).

Why do extinction rates vary so widely?  (Yale University) (The Extinction)

Most ecologists believe that we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction. Humanity’s impact on nature, they say, is now comparable to the five previous catastrophic events over the past 600 million years, during which up to 95 percent of the planet’s species disappeared. We may very well be. But recent studies have cited extinction rates that are extremely fuzzy and vary wildly.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which involved more than a thousand experts, estimated an extinction rate that was later calculated at up to 8,700 species a year, or 24 a day. More recently, scientists at the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity concluded that: “Every day, up to 150 species are lost.” That could be as much as 10 percent a decade.

Bjorn Lomborg: Copenhagen Consensus (website) (Wikipedia)

OpEd on Paris Accord (Reason.com)

Judith Curry (Wikipedia Page; blog)

Solar vs Coal

Sea Level Rise in Bangladesh

Carbon Emissions by country (Wikipedia)

China emissions (Climate Action Tracker)

Have Chinese emissions really peaked?

Population Growth by Country (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia, current rates) (World Bank)

Grameen Bank (website) (Wikipedia).

Large American company discriminating in favor of women.

1. Increase sourcing from women-owned businesses.Over the next five years, the company will source $20 billion from women-owned businesses in the U.S. and double sourcing from women suppliers internationally.
2. Empower women on farms and in factories through training, market access and career opportunities. New programs will help 60,000 women working in factories that supply products to [the company] and other retailers develop the skills they need to become more active decision-makers in their jobs and for their families. The initiative will also help women farm workers participate more fully in the agriculture supply chain.
3. Empower women through job training and education.Successful retail training programs will be scaled to help 200,000 women internationally. In the U.S., [the company] will help 200,000 women from low-income households gain job skills and access higher education.
4. Increase gender diversity among major suppliers. The company will work with major professional service firms and merchandise suppliers with over $1 billion in sales to increase women and minority representation on [the company] accounts.
5. Make significant philanthropic giving toward women’s economic empowerment. The company will support these programs with more than $100 million in grants that drive progress against key goals. Funding will come from the [the company] Foundation and donations directly from [The company’s] international businesses.

Want to guess who it is? (Site)

Bitcoin

Price graph

MicroCredit in the US  Aspen institute overview (Wikipedia)

Data on Microenterprise Development Organizations microtracker.org

Green American finance network (website)Non-Compete Agreements

Non-Compete Agreements

Survey of non-compete laws in the US

Maine

Yes. Trade secrets; confidential information; goodwill. No broader than necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate business interest; reasonable as to time, space, and interests to be protected; no undue hardship to the employee.

No, except maybe as to trade No, except maybe as to trade secrets.secrets.

Zuckerberg owns 29% of Facebook (23%)

Current Market Cap 429B