John Oliver discusses the ongoing controversy surrounding Brett Kavanaugh, the sexual assault allegations against him, his Supreme Court nomination, and what that could all mean for the highest (mostly-dog) court in the land.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was “stunned” by Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s temperament before the Senate Judiciary Committee, including his personal inquisition about her drinking habits.

“I was really stunned by how he acted at that hearing,” Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “This is basically a job interview for the highest court of the land.”

Kavanaugh raged against Democratic senators Thursday and accused them of trying to derail his nomination with false sexual assault allegations as “revenge” for Hillary Clinton losing the White House in 2016.

A seething Kavanaugh repeatedly refused to answer Democrats’ questions and instead took to grilling the senators himself. In one memorable exchange, Klobuchar asked whether Kavanaugh ever got so drunk he couldn’t remember what happened the night before.

“You’re asking about a blackout,” the judge responded. “I don’t know, have you?”


Read more: https://nypost.com/2018/09/30/senator-says-she-was-stunned-by-kavanaughs-answer-to-drinking-question/

And not regular temperature variations or responses to natural climate change

Neil Swart had barely begun his master’s degree at the University of Cape Town when he embarked on a three-month voyage to the South Pole.

While aboard a ship meant to resupply South Africa’s research facilities in Antarctica, enduring rocky waters and waves reaching 10 meters tall, Swart deployed instruments to record the Antarctic Ocean’s temperature.

At the time, Swart thought of himself as a volunteer helping further “someone else’s science.” He didn’t expect that 13 years later, the data he collected would allow him and a team of researchers to identify human activity as the number one cause of rising water temperatures in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean.

“It’s kind of nice to see it come full circle,” Swart, now a researcher with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told National Observer in an interview.

Along with other scientists from the department, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, Swart found that changes seen in Southern Ocean temperature are directly tied to ozone depletion and human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, as opposed to regular temperature variations or responses to natural climate changes, such as volcanic eruptions or changes in the sun.


Much more: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/09/for-the-first-time-scientists-prove-human-activity-is-the-top-cause-of-warming-antarctic-waters/



Itan Abramovich/AFP/Getty Images

Nearly two weeks after Hurricane Florence swamped North and South Carolina, thousands of residents who get power from coal-fired utilities remain without electricity.

Yet solar installations, which provide less than 5 percent of North Carolina's energy, were up and running the day after the storm, according to electricity news outlet GTM. And while half of Duke Energy's customers were without power at some point, according to CleanTechnica, the utility's solar farms sustained no damage.

Traditional energy providers have fared less well. A dam breach at the L.V. Sutton Power Station, a retired coal-fired power plant near Wilmington, North Carolina, has sent coal ash flowing into a nearby river. Another plant near Goldsboro has three flooded ash basins, according to the Associated Press, while in South Carolina, floodwaters are reportedly threatening pits that contain ash, an industrial waste from burning coal.

The lesson, according to environmentalists: Utilities' vulnerability to major storms underscores the urgency of shifting to energy that it is not only clean and renewable, but also more resilient.

https://twitter.com/johniadarola/status/1043619106614722561

https://twitter.com/selc_org/status/1042836878704214016

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-florence-crippled-electricity-and-coal-solar-and-wind-were-back-the-next-day/

Dr. Ford's Heartbreaking Testimony Was Not A Con Job



Republicans controlling the Senate Judiciary Committee were ready to accommodate Dr. Christine Blasey Ford with anything she wanted. Except for one thing.




Brett Kavanaugh Screams About His Innocence



Judge Kavanaugh found out that 'Jeopardy!' is the place to answer with a question, not a Senate hearing in which you've been accused of sexual assault.




All Male GOP Senators Try Relating To Dr. Ford



The GOP's all-male Senate Judiciary Committee majority creative attempt to interview a woman tastefully went wildly awry.

Seth takes a closer look at Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony to the Senate about the allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testifies about her sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh, and the SCOTUS nominee loses his cool when it's his turn to be questioned.

The metal tariffs imposed by Donald Trump are already hurting automakers like Ford. Ford CEO Jim Hackett says that his company has suffered huge losses thanks to the tariffs and it’s probably not going to get better if the trade disputes don’t let up.

In an interview with Bloomberg television, Hackett said,

“The metals tariffs took about $1 billion in profit from us—and the irony is we source most of that in the U.S. today anyways. If it goes on longer, there will be more damage.”

Specifically, Ford purchases 95 percent of its steel and 98 percent of its aluminum from within the United States, writes Automotive News reporter Nick Bunkley. The tariffs on Chinese metals have allowed American producers to jack up their prices for lack of competition.

https://twitter.com/nickbunkley/status/1044964168011599872

Read more: https://jalopnik.com/ford-lost-1-billion-of-profit-thanks-to-trumps-metal-t-1829336824?utm_source=jalopnik_twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Knowing that her response could set off a war, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern answers whether the UN General Assembly was laughing *with* or *at* Donald Trump.