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VATICAN CITY — In a new interview ranging from fame to finances to childhood dreams, Pope Francis explained that, despite his strong concern for the poor, he will not sell the “riches of the Church.” Asked whether he has ever felt pressure to sell “the treasures of the Church,” the Pope responded, “This is an easy question. They are not the treasures of the Church, [but] the treasures of humanity.” “For example, if tomorrow I say that Michelangelo’s Pieta is going to be auctioned, it can’t be done, because it’s not the property of the Church. It’s inside a church,...

With the start of the UN's Climate Summit in Paris only three weeks away, global warming alarmists are in a panic, but opinion polls show most people are not that concerned about the issue. Perhaps that is because more people are becoming aware that, despite the non-stop fright peddling by politicians and media commentators, there has been no measurable global warming for nearly 19 years. As we warned would happen over a year ago (Desperate Dash of Global Warming”), the global warming alarmists are desperately amping up their shrill warnings, in the hopes of creating support for the UN agenda..At...

The last several months have been bad ones for the Environmental Protection Agency. On August 5, EPA employees blundered into creating one of the worst toxic spills in American history when they allowed three million gallons of wastewater to flow into the Animas River in Colorado. The spill occurred during an attempted cleanup of an abandoned mine, despite warnings that their activity was creating the likelihood of a "blowout." But EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy did offer that she was "absolutely, deeply sorry this ever happened." Later in the same month, a federal court ruled that its proposed "waters of the...

Tropical Storm Kate has strengthened near the central Bahamas. An Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft investigating the system found that maximum sustained winds had increased to 45 mph as of late Monday morning. Kate has maintained this intensity as of early Monday afternoon. Kate is not a direct threat to the United States, but will continue to impact the Bahamas with gusty winds and locally heavy rain through early Tuesday morning. (MORE: Follow Tropical Storm Kate With Our Interactive Storm Tracker) Highlights: Tropical Storm Kate was centered 30 miles east-southeast of Eleuthera in the Bahamas as of early Monday afternoon....

After apologizing for two months, Volkswagen is finally putting its money where its mouth is, forking over $500 to VW car owners hit by its emissions cheating scandal. The payment will come in the form a gift card that can be spent anywhere. They'll also get another card worth $500 that can only be spent on purchases or services at VW or Audi dealerships, as well as free 24-hour roadside assistance for the next three years. It's the first time owners have been compensated by the German automaker, which admitted in mid-September that its cars use software designed to cheat...

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City will run millions of dollars in political television ads against four state attorneys general who are suing the Obama administration over new regulations on carbon emissions from power plants....

You can’t make this sh*t up. Hillary Clinton lists the reasons why thousands of people are fleeing Syria:”Because of terrible governance, because of corruption, because of conflict, because of climate change.” On Wednesday, a Clinton aide confirmed that the candidate meant what she said on the connections between climate change and refugee crises. “As experts have noted,” the aide said, “climate change is one of the factors that can contribute to displacement and exacerbate refugee situations.” Hillary Clinton, echoing the Marxist agitator Obama who has also said: “Understand, climate change did not cause the conflicts we see around the world,...

On Nov. 10, Bill Nye will release a new book titled “Unstoppable.” As only Bill Nye can, he uses the book to explain the science behind climate change, debunks popular myths, and asks readers to take action in their own lives to create a sustainable future. The book is shot through with optimism, but Nye has no illusions about what lies ahead. The message is simple: Climate change is real; humans are causing it; and we have no choice but to build a better and cleaner world. Salon spoke with Nye about his new book and about his broader intentions....

Bloomburg link only.

We recently discovered that EPA chief Gina McCarthy is coming for your air conditioners because she’s pretty worried about ozone. (We’ll leave aside for now the fact that the chemicals used in modern air conditioners don’t affect that particular issue.) It’s still on her mind and the agency already put forward some new rules to cut down on smog. This is an expensive proposition for American businesses and consumers and the agency admitted up front that the new rules would probably wind up costing us roughly one and a half billion a year. But it was worth the cost to...

WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Friday that he had rejected the request from a Canadian company to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ending a seven-year review that had become a symbol of the debate over his climate policies. Mr. Obama’s denial of the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline, which would have carried 800,000 barrels a day of carbon-heavy petroleum from the Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast, comes as he seeks to build an ambitious legacy on climate change. “America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change,” Mr. Obama said...

LaGuardia Airport is about to be rebuilt in New York City, but by the end of the century, fish could be swimming where airplanes once parked at the terminal. That’s because sea levels in the area could rise by as much as 6 feet over the next 75 years, according to new predictions released by the state of New York. New York State environment officials announced Friday that they’re creating new sea level rise regulations that will help coastal communities build more resilient homes and other buildings that will be better able to withstand storm surges and other flooding made...

President Obama’s top science and technology adviser warned that man-made climate change is putting shrimp, lobsters, crabs and oysters at risk. John Holden, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said at a White House-sponsored event that some of the excess carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater to form carbonic acid. Vice President Joe Biden, who also addressed the summit, said there would be “winners and losers” as the U.S. transitions to a sustainable energy source. “This puts at risk all of the marine organisms that make their shells from calcium carbonate including shrimp, oysters, lobsters,...

Kentucky Gov.-elect Matt Bevin said in an appearance on The Glenn Beck Radio Program Friday that he will push back against the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to regulate the coal industry, telling the EPA to “pound sand.” Bevin’s comments came after Glenn Beck asked, “Now that you’re in, President Obama has said that he’s going to destroy the coal industry. Kentucky is a coal state. What are you going to be doing specifically to push back on that?” In August, President Barack Obama unveiled his coal policy in partnership with the EPA, granting the agency authority over what is traditionally...

After Barack Obama’s totally predictable cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline project (for now, at least) there was great celebration among the environmental brigade of the Social Justice Warriors. The evil pipeline was dead, along with all the jobs it would bring and the opportunity for us to capture and process much of Canada’s wealth of energy rather than it being shipped to China. (Which it will be anyway when the Northern Gateway Pipeline is complete, whether we get some of it or not.) But as with all things in the liberal enclaves of the country, one victory is...

Today, three Iowa politicians signed a pledge calling for “a World War II-scale mobilization” to fight climate change. Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie, State Rep. Dan Kelley, and State Senator Rob Hogg, a leading candidate for US Senate, all Democrats, signed a document calling on the US government to reduce emissions 100 percent by 2025 by “enlisting” tens of millions of Americans to work on clean energy projects—creating full employment in the process. It’s likely the most ambitious pledge to fight climate change put forward this election cycle, even if right now, it's a symbolic gesture aimed at drawing attention...

LOUISVILLE (Reuters) - Kentucky Governor-elect Matt Bevin said on Friday that when he takes office in December he will order changes to the state marriage license form to appease clerks who have objected to issuing licenses to same-sex couples. "One thing I will take care of right away is we will remove the names of the county clerks from the marriage form," Bevin told reporters in the Capitol rotunda. Bevin, only the second Republican elected governor in Kentucky since 1971, said he would make the change by executive order. It is unclear what impact his order would have on the...

The main union for construction workers is accusing President Obama of throwing them "under the bus" by rejecting the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) is one of the few labor unions that broke with the majority of Democrats and supported the project, which Obama rejected Friday after a seven-year review. "We are dismayed and disgusted that the President has once again thrown the members of LIUNA, and other hard-working, blue-collar workers under the bus of his vaunted 'legacy,' while doing little or nothing to make a real difference in global climate change," Terry...

'Global Cooling' Exhibit Still on Display at the Smithsonian by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 09. 8.09 ... Photo via Yglesias The Smithsonian boasts one of the nation's most respected, most visited, and most famous group of museums. So what's it doing still displaying an exhibit based on 1970s-era science--that the earth is undergoing 'global cooling'--in its Natural History Museum in 2009? You're probably most likely to hear about global cooling these days from climate change deniers who sometimes say something along the lines of: "Well, scientists said that there was global cooling in the '70s. Now it's global...

Ending a review process that lasted nearly seven years, President Obama on Friday rejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline, siding firmly with environmental activists and drawing the ire of business and labor groups who say the administration is willfully standing in the way of economic growth, job creation and energy security. In a speech at the White House, Mr. Obama, flanked by Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joseph R. Biden, formally announced they'll block construction of Keystone. "The State Department has decided the Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the national interests of the United States. I...