Private Jets to the Climate Conference

Published

2 years ago

December 5, 2023

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Get out the private jets, it’s climate conference time!Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary David Cameron, and King Charles III each took their own private jetsas did many other hypocrites world leadersto attend the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, where it is apparently an “open secret,” per Politico, that “the top temperature goal is mostly gone.”

“This government’s approach to tacklingclimate change, as we have set out repeatedly, is not about banning or reducing people from flying,” said a Sunak spokesman. “It is through investing in new technologies of the future, as evidenced by the flight just yesterday using sustainable aviation fuel.”

Innovation is well and good, but the whole world-leaders-coming-in-on-private-planes thing looks a bit bad when the topic at hand is reversing climate changeand when the news is so dismal. “A short trip on a private jet will produce more carbon than the average person emits all year,” noted one Green Party critic.

Methane agreement scorned: That’s not the only bit of controversy that’s come from this year’s Cop28 summit. NBC reports thatroughly “50 oil and gas companies worldwide have pledged to shore up leaky methane systems by 2030,” which “could rapidly reduce emissions of the potent gas and forestall some climate change effects.” Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the conference’s president and the one who announced this agreement, is the United Arab Emirates’ climate envoy and the CEO of ADNOC, an oil and gas company.

“Every piece of equipment, every component, can leak methane along the supply chain,” scientist Arvind Ravikumar explained to NBC. He said roughly 10 percent of leaks in the supply chain create more than 50 percent of total methane emissions.

By asking oil and gas companies to fix something that’s in their self-interest to fix anyway, the conference attracted criticism from climate activists. “Methane emissions and gas flaring are symptoms of a more than century-long legacy of wasteful, destructive practices that are routine in the oil and gas industry as it pursues massive profits without regard for the consequences,” they wrote in response. “The only safe and effective way to ‘clean up’ fossil fuel pollution is to phase out fossil fuels.”

Kamala Harris promises to throw money at the problem: Our own vice president just pledged $3 billion of U.S. taxpayers’ hard-earned money to the Green Climate Fund. But Congress still has to approve this, and given the spending battles that have led to looming government shutdowns and an ousted speaker, it’s unclear whether this money is Harris’ to spend.

Middle East update: Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen fired at several commercial ships over the weekend, prompting a U.S. Navy destroyer to shoot down three drones, including one that was headed for the U.S.S. Carney warship. ” The strikes marked an escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war, as multiple vessels found themselves in the crosshairs of a single Houthi assault for the first time in the conflict,” reports the Associated Press.

“A Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said in a statement on Sunday that the militia had targeted two Israeli ships in the area of the Bab al-Mandeb strait off southern Yemen, but did not mention the American naval vessel,” per The New York Times. The Houthi militants have said they will keep firing at Israeli ships in the Red and Arabian Seas until the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip is stopped.

Meanwhile in Gaza, the ceasefire has expired and Israel seems to be eyeing an expansion of its military campaign into the south. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) called for mass evacuations from Khan Younis, warning civilians that it is likely to strike there. With an estimated three-quarters of the population of the Gaza Strip displaced, it’s unclear where evacuees ought to take refuge.

Scenes from New York:

Functional school system we’ve got here! A 7th grade girl, bullied and beaten on video at NYC's Mark Twain gifted and talented middle school, is now escorted by a staffer acting as a bodyguard during school, and her parents pick her up every day to accompany her out of the building. The DOE offered the victim a "safety… https://t.co/P5Y0GsO8UW

— Susan Edelman (@SusanBEdelman) December 3, 2023

QUICK HITS DO YOU LOVE ROUNDUP ? Then possibly consider donating to Reason ‘s Webathon (and writing my name in that sweet, sweet comment section so my superiors know not to fire me next time I say something too spicy). Who knows, maybe you can win a trip to the shooting range with me next year if enough interest is expressed! (Just kidding, New York City doesn’t have those, because the city pols hate fun and freedom.) Today, the Supreme Court “will weigh whether members of the Sackler family, who owned the company, should be shielded from current and future lawsuits connected with Purdue in exchange for paying about $5.5 billion to address the addiction crisis,” reports Axios. “A growing number of Chinese have entered the United States this year through the Darin Gap, exceeded only by Venezuelans, Ecuadoreans and Haitians,” The New York Times reports. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor died on Friday. “Buy now, pay later” schemes receive heightened scrutiny. Deranged behaviorand vandalismoutside a Jewish-owned restaurant in Philadelphia. Socialized medicine kills: “Canadian woman is diagnosed with cancer, told she has 2 years to live at most, that she is not a candidate for surgery but would she like medical help committing suicide? She declines, comes to the United States, spends a lot of money, and is treated within weeks,” writes Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution. The expansion of grief leave, with no government mandates necessary. A thread that will possibly leave you optimistic about the future of humanity. Lol: Oh boy do I have a good one for you. https://t.co/N7uaylLuaw

— Ajit Pai (@AjitPai) December 3, 2023

Check out the trailer for the show Zach Weissmueller and I are launching. It’s called Just Asking Questions and we’re thrilled to release new episodes to our YouTube every Thursday and to our podcast feed every Friday: An announcement from me and @LizWolfeReason pic.twitter.com/cSKiPvPLlI

— Zach Weissmueller (@TheAbridgedZach) December 2, 2023

Entertainment

Social media star ‘Big John’ Fisher to be deported after being detained in Australia

Published

2 hours ago

October 15, 2025

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Social media star 'Big John' Fisher to be deported after being detained in Australia

Social media star “Big John” Fisher has said he is being deported from Australia after he was detained over visa issues.

Fisher, known for reviewing fast food online, arrived in Australia on Tuesday for appearances in Perth and Sydney.

In posts on his Instagram, he said he was questioned by border officials for four hours in the city of Perth.

He said he was due to head home on Wednesday, his birthday, at 6.30pm local time.

“My visa was legal coming in but they are not happy with what I am doing here so they are sending me home,” he said. “To be truthful, I just want to go home now.

“When common sense goes out the window you lose a bit of hope with human beings.

“Well even though I am under lock and key it’s my birthday, I’m still smiling and I still love Australia.

“Just can’t wait to get home to my family and good old England.”

It is understood Fisher was travelling on an incorrect visa.

An Australian Border Force spokesperson said it did not comment on individual passengers.

Fisher, who has more than 680,000 followers on Instagram, went viral for his love of Chinese takeaway and is best known for his use of the catchphrase “bosh”.

He makes regular appearances at restaurants, clubs and major events around the world.

His son, British heavyweight boxer Johnny Fisher, wrote on Instagram: “The Aussies have detained Big John and are sending him home- rumour has it they are frightened of his express pace bowling ahead of the Ashes.”

Technology

Waymo plans robotaxi launch in London, marking its European debut

Published

2 hours ago

October 15, 2025

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Waymo plans robotaxi launch in London, marking its European debut

Waymo self-driving cars with roof-mounted sensor arrays traveling near palm trees and modern buildings along the Embarcadero, San Francisco, California, February 21, 2025.

Smith Collection/gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images

Alphabet‘s Waymo is bringing its driverless ride-hailing services to London, the first European market for its robotaxi.

The company said in a release on Wednesday that it plans to start test drives on London’s roads in coming months, with human safety specialists at the wheel. It intends to open its robotaxi service next year, assuming it can get permissions from regulators as well as local and national leaders.

London will mark the company’s second international city after Tokyo, where testing began in early 2025.

Waymo has been aggressively expanding in the U.S., and now offers a commercial service in the Los Angeles area, Phoenix, San Francisco, Atlanta and Austin, Texas. The company has also announced plans to start robotaxi services in Miami and Washington, D.C., and said in August that it obtained permits to begin testing its autonomous vehicles with trained safety drivers on board in New York City.

In London, Waymo’s fleet will be comprised of Jaguar iPACE electric vehicles equipped with the company’s Waymo Driver autonomous systems. Waymo said it already employs engineering teams in Oxford and London, and that it plans to work with Moove to handle operations and maintenance for its fleet.

Moove provides vehicle financing to drivers who want to purchase a new vehicle for ride-hailing, and offers services like cleaning, some repairs and charging of electric vehicles to transportation businesses including Waymo and Uber, which is an investor in the startup.

In June, the U.K. announced an accelerated framework for commercial pilots by AV ventures, an effort to bring self-driving investments to the region. London also established a “Vision Zero” goal earlier this year to eliminate all serious injuries and deaths in its transportation systems by 2041.

Waymo says its system “is involved in five times fewer injury-causing collisions, and twelve times fewer injury-causing collisions with pedestrians compared to humans,” according to the company’s analysis of its own data.

The company has also reported that its self-driving vehicles have logged 100 million “fully autonomous miles” on public roads, and provided more than 10 million paid rides to passengers to-date.

Waymo is part of Alphabet’s “Other Bets” segment, which brought in revenue of $373 million in the second quarter on a loss of $1.25 billion. Alphabet plans to report third-quarter results on Oct. 29.

Wayve, a U.K.-based startup backed by SoftBank and Microsoft, previously announced that it plans to bring a robotaxi commercial pilot to London next year. While Waymo uses radar, lidar and other sophisticated sensors in its vehicles, Wayve is developing camera-based systems, an approach that’s similar to Tesla’s pursuits.

— CNBC’s Jennifer Elias contributed to this report.

WATCH: Lyft CEO on partnership with Waymo

Lyft CEO David Risher on partnership with Waymo: 'This is just getting started'

Sports

Hamlin records emotional 60th win, into finale

Published

3 hours ago

October 15, 2025

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Hamlin records emotional 60th win, into finale

Associated Press

Oct 12, 2025, 09:56 PM ET

LAS VEGAS — With tears in his eyes and needing a moment to compose himself, Denny Hamlin collected his sixth checkered flag and reflected on everything it meant.

The victory Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was the 60th of his career — a lifetime goal he dedicated to his ailing father — and it gave him the first of the four spots in NASCAR’s winner-take-all championship finale.

Hamlin, 44, a three-time Daytona 500 winner considered the greatest driver to never win a Cup Series title, is back in the championship race for the first time since 2021. He’s Joe Gibbs Racing’s winningest driver and now Toyota’s as well.

The Virginia driver is tied for 10th on NASCAR’s career victories list with Kevin Harvick.

Hamlin couldn’t hold back the tears after a frantic final 10-lap drive to run down Kyle Larson and then JGR teammate Chase Briscoe. Two weeks ago, he thought he had his 60th win locked up at Kansas Speedway and was bitterly disappointed to come up short and mentioned letting down his ailing father.

He made good on it two weeks later at Las Vegas in what might be the most important win of his career. He said the win was for his 75-year-old father, who also was rooting for his son to hit the 60-win mark.

“You know, he’s just not doing well, you know, he’s the one that got me into racing and took me to a racetrack when I was 5,” Hamlin said. “Then made all the sacrifices financially to keep me going, sold everything we had, we almost lost our house a couple times to just try to keep it going.

“I’m glad he was able to see 60. That was so important to me.”

Hamlin took four tires on the final restart and restarted in fifth before slicing his way through traffic. He first got past Joey Logano, who had only two new tires, needed a few laps to run down Larson on the inside, and then finally took the lead from Briscoe, who was also on only two tires.

This is the deepest in the playoffs new crew chief Chris Gayle has ever advanced, and Hamlin credited adjustments on the final pit stop for getting him his seventh win of the season — his most since 2020.

“Just putting down all the factors, I just can’t imagine there’s a win bigger for me than this one,” Hamlin said.

Joe Gibbs, who lost both his sons before they turned 50, was touched by Hamlin’s dedication.

“I know one of the things he shared there was his dad. That was emotional for everybody,” Gibbs said.

Larson, seeking to end a 20-race losing streak, was second in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. JGR drivers Christopher Bell and Briscoe were third and fourth, Tyler Reddick who drives for Hamlin at 23XI Racing was fifth, and reigning Cup Series champion Logano was sixth.

Five of the top six — only Reddick — are still in the playoff field. The others are Chase Elliott, who finished 18th; Daytona 500 winner William Byron was 36th and Ryan Blaney was last in 38th.

Byron was out front and then wiggled out of the groove with 35 laps remaining, saved his Chevrolet from crashing, but teammate Larson sailed past him for the lead. Minutes later he was involved in a race-ending crash when he drilled into the back of Ty Dillon, unaware that Dillon was slowing to head to pit road.

“I never saw him wave, I had no indication he was pitting,” Byron said. “I had zero idea. I am just devastated. Obviously, I wouldn’t have driven full speed into him.”

The bottom four drivers in the playoff standings with two races remaining in this round are Byron, Elliott, Logano and Blaney.

Bad day for Blaney

Blaney, second in points at the start of the race, saw his title hopes take a severe hit when a tire issue caused him to crash into the wall with nine laps remaining in the first stage.

His race immediately ended, he finished 38th and dropped to the bottom of the eight-driver playoff round. Blaney is the 2023 Cup Series champion, with teammate Joey Logano winning titles in 2022 and 2024 to give Team Penske three straight.

The upside is Blaney races next at Talladega Superspeedway, where he’s a three-time winner and considers himself to be in a must-win situation.

“You’ve got to be optimistic. I’m not very happy right now, but tomorrow morning I’ll be optimistic to go to the next race,” Blaney said. “We’ve had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in.”

Reddick’s son

Reddick, who was eliminated from the playoffs last weekend, is still racing despite serious health complications facing his infant son.

Rookie Reddick, the second son born to Tyler and Alexa Reddick in May, has a “tumor that’s ‘choking’ the renal vein & renal artery. Telling the heart ‘Hey I’m not getting enough blood… pump harder,'” Alexa Reddick wrote in an update last week. She said it had caused an enlarged heart and the 4-month-old will need a kidney removed because doctors determined it is no longer functioning.

Alexa Reddick posted on social media ahead of Sunday’s race at Las Vegas that Rookie will have surgery Tuesday and will be moved to a unit to “monitor his heart and BP while his renin slowly drops.”

Edwards makes his NASCAR debut

Rob Edwards, the longtime team principal of the Andretti Global IndyCar program, made his NASCAR debut this weekend in his new role with the overall ownership group.

Edwards will transition into the role of chief performance officer for TWG Motorsports, the Dan Towriss-led organization that owns teams in NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA, Formula E and will launch the new Cadillac F1 team next season.

Edwards as part of his new role will be part of all of TWG’s properties — a move he told The Associated Press on Sunday he was excited for as it’s a new challenge after nearly three decades in IndyCar. He anticipates attending about a half-dozen NASCAR races next year with Spire Motorsports, where Towriss is now the majority owner.

Andretti Global last month named Ron Ruzewski, one of three fired Team Penske executives from an Indianapolis 500 scandal in May, as its new IndyCar team principal.

Up next

NASCAR races next Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, where Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending race winner. Stenhouse is not part of the playoff field.