Could Obama Be the Next President of France?

France Mexico United States News Activism
by C.S. Hunter Feb 27, 2017

Politics around the world

Some people in France really want to elect Barack Obama as their president.
Obama17 is a guerilla political campaign that’s responsible for the 500 posters that went up around Paris over the weekend. They’ve admitted that it’s a joke, kind of, but they’re still trying to gather 1 million signatures to entice Obama to run. The French go to the polls on April 23rd for their first round of voting. One candidate has to gain more than 50 percent of the vote in order to win. If no one achieves that, there’s another round of voting for the top two candidates on May 7th. [CNN]

The Oscars got pretty political this year.
Several attendees wore blue ribbons to show support for the ACLU. Actor and filmmaker Gael García Bernal spoke out against President Trump’s border wall with Mexico. And Ava DuVernay, who was nominated for Best Documentary for her film 13th, chose to wear a gown by a Lebanese designer, specifically because she wanted to support an artist from a Muslim-majority country. [New York Magazine]

Supporting diversity

Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor to win an Acadamy Award last night.
Ali won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Moonlight, a film that follows the life of a young black man who is growing up in Miami and struggling with his identity. [CNN]

Climate change solutions

A tequila company in Mexico wants to turn its waste into fuel.
Herradura is the second-largest tequila producer behind Jose Cuervo. It wants to dry up the 150 tons of agave waste that it generates each day and use that biomass to power at least 30 percent of its energy needs. [Global Citizen]

Exxon just decided against digging up a huge chunk of tar sands in Canada.
Because oil prices are so low right now, Exxon has decided it’s not worth it to dig up and sell the 3.5 billion barrels of fuel that are buried in some of Canada’s highest-quality oil sands. To get an idea for how much oil that actually is, 3.5 billion barrels is six month’s worth of petroleum consumption in the United States. [Grist]

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