Sarah Palin posted a picture of Florida lawmakers to illustrate foreigners cheering to celebrate the Paris accords costing America billions.

Courtesy of Politifact:  

It’s clear that Sarah Palin hates the Paris climate agreement. 

What’s unclear is why she used a photo of Florida lawmakers to make her point in a Facebook meme. 

"Don’t be fooled! The Paris climate accord is a scam," stated the headline at the top of Palin’s Facebook post June 6, 2017. (By June 7, the Facebook meme was no longer available but PolitiFact had taken a screenshot of her post, which had been shared at least 8,000 times.) 

Beneath the headline is a photo of an unidentified group of mostly men cheering. The Facebook post doesn’t identify the people in the photo, but they are Florida House members at the state Capitol in Tallahassee. 

Beneath the photo Palin shared is text that says: "They pretend it’s about fixing our environment ... But it’s really about stealing billions from the American people and giving it to foreign countries, governments and lobbyists!"

To be clear many of the folks in the photo are Florida Republicans who are certainly not fans of the Paris Climate Accords, and in fact many of who do not accept the conventional wisdom about climate change.

When Politico contacted them about this Facebook post, they had this to say:

Florida Republicans and insiders couldn’t stop mocking and laughing at Palin’s error. 

“I’m appalled. … As the owner of a publishing company, I find it appalling that she would use a low-res picture like this when a high-res picture is readily available,” joked state Rep. Scott Plakon, who’s in the picture standing with his hands together as he claps with joy. 

Plakon said, “I was almost in tears with laughter” that Palin got it so wrong with her 9:37 a.m. Tuesday post — which was shared nearly 8,000 times and generated hundreds of comments before it was deleted. “I’m not sure what she’s saying. Are we cheering for Paris or against it? I think she’s saying we’re celebrating Paris.”

You know making mistakes is simply part of blogging, but remember Palin outsources her Facebook posts and blog posts to a third party, who apparently gets paid for their work. 

I mean if this were the work of some coffee swilling middle aged dude in his pajama bottoms, that would be one thing. But this is a paid professional posting on the Facebook page of a former D-list political celebrity.

I think one would expect better.

But then again this is Palin, so perhaps this is exactly what we should expect.

John Oliver's take on Trump pulling out of the Paris Climate accords is something you should not miss.

Courtesy of The Guardian: 

Trump’s decision was “hardly surprising”, said Oliver. “As a title, [Paris accords] is so off-brand for him it might as well have been called ‘the globalist cock surrender’ or a light jog. 

“But pulling out of this is a huge deal,” he continued, firing back at Trump’s claim that the deal made the US a laughingstock to other countries. “They were happy because they secured a landmark victory for the future of the planet, you fucking egomaniac. The whole world is not secretly conspiring against the United States.”

Oliver then addressed the president’s belief that the deal harmed American businesses, 25 of which, including Microsoft and Intel, bought an advertisement in the New York Times in a last-ditch attempt to persuade Trump to remain a part of the agreement. 

“Well, come on. He was clearly never going to be convinced by an ad in the New York Times,” Oliver joked. “How was he going to see it? If those companies really wanted to get his attention, they needed to talk KFC into putting out a full-bucket ad which he could read on the toilet while eating chicken, because that, at his core, is who our president is.”

Oliver of course goes on to suggest that Trump may have actually done the climate change movement a favor by providing a symbol for them to rally against.

The large gassy orb that is Donald Trump. 

Trump campaign promotes "Pittsburgh Not Paris" rally in DC, while Trump goes golfing.

Dozens gathering to support President Trump at WH. Shouts of, Pittsburgh Not Paris! pic.twitter.com/8HqFvMnkbt

— Tom Vanden Brook (@tvandenbrook) June 3, 2017

Courtesy of ABC News: 

Supporters of President Donald Trump gathered outside of the White House on Saturday morning to thank him for upholding his campaign pledge to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. 

About 200 people attended the "Pittsburgh Not Paris" event, which took its name from an assertion Trump made that he was elected to "represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris." 

The rally was hosted by the Fairfax County Republican Committee and the Republican Party of Virginia. Demonstrators gathered for two hours near the statue of General Jackson in Lafayette Square, just outside the White House. 

Demonstrators chanted "Pittsburgh not Paris" and "jobs, jobs, jobs" to show their support for the president. 

In a Facebook post about Saturday's event, organizers said the rally was designed "to show our support for President Trump's withdrawal from the crippling Paris Accord and demonstrate that we the people support his brave stand against globalist coercion." 

Somewhat ironic that the Mayor of Pittsburgh actually issued his own executive order reaffirming his city's compliance with the Paris climate accord.

So just who is this rally supposed to represent?

Despite the fact that the rally was promoted by the Trump/Pence campaign, Trump himself thought it beneath him to attend so he went, where else, golfing.

Courtesy of Business Insider:

According to a pool report, the president's motorcade pulled up at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia on Saturday morning. It's unclear whether the president is playing golf, and the press pool said it would file another report when it gets more information about the president's activities. 

I think we can assume Trump is golfing, since I'm not sure why he would leave the White House to go to a golf club if he were not planning to golf, especially with a rally in his honor taking place back in Washington.

But then again, I have had significant difficulty understanding ANYTHING that Trump has done lately.

By the way that lack of support for this rally meant that it was both sad and pathetic.

March for Truth anti-#Trump rally in NYC via @MarchForTruth17 (left) and Pittsburgh, not Paris #Trump rally in DC via @edroso (far right). pic.twitter.com/pjXrhkeTTW

— Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) June 3, 2017

Though Sarah Palin certainly does not want people to think that.

A great show of support for the President! 👍🏻🇺🇸 https://t.co/fMiup3Wt3p

— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) June 3, 2017

Just in case you are not certain something is sad and pathetic wait for Sarah Palin to defend it, and then you know for sure.

Anybody else tired of all this winning yet?

Donald Trump may literally have pulled out of the Paris climate change accords in order to get back at the French Prime Minister for mocking him over a handshake.

The Washington Post has up an article that goes into great detail in explaining all of the advice, both pro and con, that Trump received before finally deciding to pull America's support out of the Paris deal.

However buried at the very bottom are these four paragraphs: 

If he needed a nudge, though, one came from France over the weekend. Macron was quoted in a French journal talking about his white-knuckled handshake with Trump at their first meeting in Brussels, where the newly elected French president gripped Trump’s hand tightly and would not let go for six long seconds in a show of alpha-male fortitude. 

“My handshake was not innocent,” Macron said. He likened Trump to a pair of authoritarian strongmen — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and said that he was purposefully forceful because he believed his encounter with Trump was “a moment of truth.” 

Hearing smack-talk from the Frenchman 31 years his junior irritated and bewildered Trump, aides said. 

A few days later, Trump got his revenge. He proclaimed from the Rose Garden, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”

Could it really be that Trump is such a thin skinned little snowflake that he would sacrifice our children's future in exchange for the opportunity to get back at a man who he felt had humiliated him in some way?

Well consider his long time feud with Graydon Carter, the man who first labeled him a "short fingered vulgarian":

Just to drive him a little bit crazy, I took to referring to him as a “short-fingered vulgarian” in the pages of Spy magazine. That was more than a quarter of a century ago. To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump. There is always a photo of him — generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers. I almost feel sorry for the poor fellow because, to me, the fingers still look abnormally stubby.

So to the question of whether or not Trump is such a thin skinned little snowflake that he would sacrifice our children's future in exchange for the opportunity to get back at a man who he felt had humiliated him in some way?

The answer can only be, "Yes, of course he is."

As predicted Donald Trump pulls out of the Paris accord. Today was the day that America stopped being a leader in fighting climate change.

Courtesy of NBC News:

The United States will pull out of a landmark global coalition meant to curb emissions that cause climate change, President Donald Trump announced Thursday. 

"The United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord," Trump said to applause from the crowd gathered in the White House Rose Garden. 

He added that the U.S. will begin negotiations to re-enter either the Paris accord or a new treaty on terms that are better for American businesses and taxpayers.

"So we're getting out, but we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal that's fair," he said.

Yeah that suggestion that Trump is going to try to get us a better deal is all bullshit.

Trump has no intention of working that hard unless he gets something from it personally.

Dana Bash, reporter from CNN, suggested that the speech sounded like Mad-Libs for conservatives:

JAKE TAPPER (HOST): And Dana, I know a line that the president said that struck a lot of us was when he cast the Paris agreement as quote, "a massive redistribution of United States wealth to other countries." 

DANA BASH: Right, because the whole theme against President Obama during both of the elections against him was that he was a Democrat who wants to redistribute wealth. That is a buzz word, a signal to conservatives that we got your back and we're going to make sure that sort of the big bad Democrats who want to socialize and globalize and do everything that would hurt you and your jobs won't happen. 

And there were a series of those buzz words, it was almost like mad libs for conservatives, this speech, and it was a long one. The thing -- one of the things that struck me is after all of the reporting that we've done about the discussions, and the debates, and the pressure that he got from his daughter, from his -- Ivanka, from his son-in-law Jared, from his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson -- there wasn't an olive branch in here. 

It's like those people were walled-off in the writing of this speech, and it was clearly written by the Steve Bannon and Stephen Millers of the world.

And that's really it in a nutshell.

This speech is clear indication that Stephen Bannon is back in the driver's seat and that Trump is dancing to the tune that he is playing.

Reactions to this speech have been rather vocal to say the least.

Here is the obligatory response from Al Gore.

My statement on Today’s Decision by the Trump Administration to Withdraw from the Paris Agreement: https://t.co/eDEFv5b1nS pic.twitter.com/SzHJU3D0Mr

— Al Gore (@algore) June 1, 2017

The Secretary-General of the UN was also quite unhappy: 

The decision by the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change is a major disappointment for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote global security.

California Rep. Speier claims that Trump has now made himself irrelevant. 

Rep. Speier on President Trump's decision to pull out of the climate deal: "He has made himself totally irrelevant" https://t.co/Rs1iv6n9db

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 1, 2017

Former President Obama had this to say: 

"The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created," Obama said. "I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack." 

He added: "But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I'm confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we've got."

Even the Weather Channel could not contain their disappointment:

The headlines on the homepage include: 

So What Happens to Earth Now? 
Still Don't Care? Proof You Should 
...and More Proof... 
...and Even More Proof... 
...Or the Imminent Collapse of a Key Ice Shelf... 
...Or Antarctica Turning Green 
...Or California's Coast Disappearing Into the Sea

Here's how the Huffington Post responded.

And as promised Elon Musk has removed himself from Trump's economic council.

Of course Trump also had his supporters for this decision.

Of course most of them believe that there is no definitive proof the earth is round, think dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time, and believe Donald Trump is really worth 10 billion dollars.

Donald Trump to remove America from Paris Climate Change pact.

Courtesy of Reuters:  

President Donald Trump plans to make good on his campaign vow to withdraw the United States from a global pact to fight climate change, a source briefed on the decision said on Wednesday, a move that promises to deepen a rift with U.S. allies. 

White House officials cautioned that details were still being hammered out and that, although close, the decision on withdrawing from the 195-nation accord - agreed to in Paris in 2015 - was not finalized. 

Trump, who has previously called global warming a hoax, did not confirm the decision in a post on Twitter, saying only, "I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days." 

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump was working out the terms of the planned withdrawal with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, an oil industry ally and climate change doubter.

This pact had virtually every nation on earth making a commitment to work together to deal with climate change, with only Syria and Nicaragua refusing to sign on.

And now America will join them in their shortsightedness.

This has caused Elon Musk, once deciding it was better to work with Trump than to leave him without intelligent input, to second guess that decision.

Courtesy of Business Insider: 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he would leave President Donald Trump's advisory councils if the US withdrew from the Paris Agreement.

"Don't know which way Paris will go, but I've done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain," Musk said on Twitter on Wednesday. 

Musk then said he would have "no choice" but to depart Trump's advisory councils if the US pulled out of the climate deal.

While I applaud Musk's integrity, I also worry that if all of the intelligent, ethical people abandon Trump, who is left to advise him?

Yeah, that's what has me worried.

Marco Rubio is not happy (But he's kind of happy.) about the Paris attacks.

Courtesy of Addicting Info: 

When Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio was asked by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday if he thinks his “foreign policy credentials” are giving him “a boost with voters” after the terror attacks, Rubio responded: 

“I obviously am not happy about the events that happened last week in Paris, but I think it’s a positive development that it suddenly has forced Americans to confront more carefully the issue of national security, because it is the most important thing a president will do, and it’s the most important function of the federal government.” 

He literally just said, “I’m not happy, BUT…” So, in other words, yes, he is quite pleased that an event took place that will boost his polls numbers as he’s able to display what a xenophobic war hawk he is.

Make no mistake, the attacks in Paris are a gift to the Republican candidates.

Their only real hope of defeating the Democratic candidate is for the American people to be frightened into voting for what they perceive as the party of defense.

Remember that during the Bush administration we were kept in a constant state of fear with those terror warnings which allowed the Republicans to torture in our name, spy on us in our homes, and attack Iraq without justification.

Unfortunately for the Republicans our most likely candidate will be Hillary Clinton, and it is hard to make the case that the former Secretary of State will not be aware and prepared for acts of terrorism.

In fact she is currently leading in the polls when Americans are asked who they trust more to protect us from terrorism. 

Yes I know they will attack her over Benghazi (Good luck with that!), and just about everything else they can come up with, but the fact still remains that her resume puts ALL of theirs to shame.

Precious moment between father and son in wake of terrorist attacks in Paris.

You know I like to consider myself pretty much a badass, but this did me in completely.

Some people are born to be parents.

And that guy is certainly doing it right.

"You will not have my hatred." Message from a Parisian man to the terrorists who murdered his wife.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY HATRED 

Friday night, you took an exceptional life -- the love of my life, the mother of my son -- but you will not have my hatred. I don't know who you are and I don't want to know, you are dead souls. If this God, for whom you kill blindly, made us in his image, every bullet in the body of my wife would have been one more wound in his heart. 

So, no, I will not grant you the gift of my hatred. You're asking for it, but responding to hatred with anger is falling victim to the same ignorance that has made you what you are. You want me to be scared, to view my countrymen with mistrust, to sacrifice my liberty for my security. You lost. 

I saw her this morning. Finally, after nights and days of waiting. She was just as beautiful as when she left on Friday night, just as beautiful as when I fell hopelessly in love over 12 years ago. Of course I am devastated by this pain, I give you this little victory, but the pain will be short-lived. I know that she will be with us every day and that we will find ourselves again in this paradise of free love to which you have no access. 

We are just two, my son and me, but we are stronger than all the armies in the world. I don't have any more time to devote to you, I have to join Melvil who is waking up from his nap. He is barely 17-months-old. He will eat his meals as usual, and then we are going to play as usual, and for his whole life this little boy will threaten you by being happy and free. Because no, you will not have his hatred either.

You are a better man than I Antoine Leiris.

Charlie Hebdo responds to #Prayforparis

Source

What was it Jon Stewart once said?

Oh yeah, that's right.

Terror comes to the City of Lights. Update!

Courtesy of CNN: 

ISIS claimed responsibility for gunfire and blasts that targeted six sites Friday night in Paris, killing 128 people in one of Europe's deadliest massacres in recent years. 

In an online statement distributed by supporters Saturday, the terror group said eight militants wearing explosive belts and armed with machine guns attacked precisely selected areas in the French capital. 

In addition to the people killed, 180 others were injured, according to the Paris Police Prefecture. More than half of them are in critical condition.

I am sure that all of you watched this unfold last night just like I did.

And I am sure you share my shock, anger, and disgust. 

My daughter was attending the wedding of a good friend last night, but even during the ceremony she kept sending me texts asking what was going on. I told her what I knew from watching cable news, and she kept responding back with more and more horror, until she finally had had enough and stopped responding at all.

Still today there are conflicting reports on just now many people were murdered last night, some say 127 others put the death toll over 150.

What we do know is that innocent people simply living their lives were massacred by savages in the name of their religion. And that should frighten us all.

I know as a liberal I am supposed to understand the motivations of the oppressed, or to feel sympathy for those who are so desperate that they would lash out in such a manner, but to be honest I feel none of that right now.

All I feel is incredible anger.

I don't care what your holy book says you should do. I don't care how angry you are at the West. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care.

And if this act of savagery was supposed to make us care, or to frighten us, I don't think these Jihadists understand the people of France, or the people of the United States, very well at all.

Somehow I think that ISIS might have just made a terrible mistake indeed.

Update: Here are the President's remarks on the attack. And of course we will hear what the future President has to say about them at tonight's Democratic debate.

Paris mayor says she is serious about suing Fox News for claiming there were "no-go zones" in her city.

Courtesy of TPM:  

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took another shot at Fox News in an interview that aired this week, saying the channel's reporting that there were Muslim "no-go zones" in her city was "a lie at a very, very serious time." 

Hidalgo spoke to CNN about the city's planned lawsuit against Fox News for its coverage of the supposed "no-go zones" in the wake of terror attacks by Islamic extremists earlier this year in Paris. Fox eventually issued multiple corrections and said there was "no credible information" to support the idea that non-Muslims are not allowed in parts of England or France. 

"We are in a world that can very dangerously tip over, as we've seen," Hidalgo said, according to CNN's translation. "And we should not accept this type of talk that only adds difficulty." 

Though she did not explain details of the lawsuit against Fox, she said the city "took legal action at the Paris high court." 

She said she remained angry about Fox's reporting and that "it has economic consequences because some in the United States suddenly become afraid of Paris." 

"What Fox News did was to lie," Hidalgo said, according to CNN. "It wasn't opinion or legitimate criticism. We are in a democracy, so real criticism is normal. But it was a lie at a very, very serious time. And some like Fox stigmatized a portion of the population and they wanted to show something that doesn't exist."

Fox News claims that so far they have received no court papers, but of course who believes Fox News?

Personally I would hope that this could set a precedent, and that in the future there could be multiple lawsuits filed against Fox News for purposefully misleading their viewers.

And I'm not talking legitimate mistakes, you know like real news organizations make, I am talking about the lies that Fox tells over and over again to foment fear and push a political agenda.

If they happened as often as they should I think these lawsuits could quite literally bankrupt the network. Or, dare I say, force them to change their format of misinformation and conservative talking points.

Mayor of Paris, France to sue Fox News for "insulting" their image." I'm totally going to need some more popcorn.

BREAKING: Paris is going to sue @FoxNews after image of Paris was “insulted” and “prejudiced,” Mayor @Anne_Hidalgo tells me.
— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) January 20, 2015

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

Last week, various individuals on Fox News made some questionable claims about Muslim no-go zones in France, which made them quite the subject of ridicule by a French TV show. 

Fox did issue apologies over the weekend for some of the claims they made about no-go zones.

Well too little too late Fox News, now you are going to get sued!

Man do I love this news!

Of course the thing about Fox News viewers is that getting sued by France probably makes the cable channel even MORE appealing.

Stupid Fox News viewers.

Here is the mayor on CNN stating her plans to sue.

Personally I want to see that crazy ass Jeanine Pirro cross examined in a French court.

That might be so good I could put away the popcorn and eat french bread, wine, and cheese while watching instead.

More than 40 leaders attend mass demonstration against terrorism in Paris, France.

Courtesy of Salon:

 Leaders from across the world, including some countries with less-than-stellar freedom of expression records, linked arms and headed up a massive unity rally through the streets of Paris on Sunday to pay tribute to the 17 people killed in France by Islamist terrorist this past week. More than 1 million are expected to take part in what could very well be the largest march through the streets of Paris in modern times, notes Reuters.

 Maybe we have finally had enough of being bullied and are ready to treat Islam like every other stupid and unnecessary religious faith despite their immature tantrum throwing and threats to murder or maim those who dare to do so.

By the way here is the cartoon that is credited with inspiring the attack on Charlie Hebdo.

Here it is translated.

In other words it is suggesting that if Mohammad were to return today he would not understand the actions of his followers, and they would be unable, and unwilling, to accept him as he is rather than how they imagine him to be.

Isn't that provocative?

I think this image should be shared far and wide simply as an act of defiance in the face of terrorism, and out of respect for those who would not be silenced.