Mike Bloomberg tells MIT Graduates: ‘We Can’t Wait to Act’ on Climate Change (Boston Globe)

Bloomberg urged Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates Friday to save the planet before humanity pays a “terrible price” for stifled political inaction. His scathing rebuke of the Trump administration, which he depicted as “pandering to skeptics” after withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, coincided with the philanthropist’s launch of “Beyond Carbon.”  

The nationwide campaign represents a $500 million investment aimed at achieving a 100 percent clean energy economy. Bloomberg described it as “the largest coordinated assault on the climate crisis that our country has ever undertaken.”

“Today, Washington is a very, very big part of the problem, and we have to be part of the solution,” Bloomberg said in his commencement address. “This has gone from a scientific challenge to a political problem, and it’s time for everyone to recognize that climate change is the challenge of our time.”

Read his remarks here: Our Next Moonshot: Saving Earth’s Climate (Bloomberg Opinion – Michael Bloomberg)

He closed by saying: “Graduates: We will need your minds and your creativity to achieve a clean energy future. But that is not all. We need your voices, we need your votes, and we need you to help lead us where Washington won’t. It may be a moonshot — but it’s the only shot we’ve got.”

Most Read on the Bloomberg:
Citigroup Says S&P 500 Heading for a `Full Scale Bear Market’ (Bloomberg)

G-20 Finance Chiefs Meeting in Japan Say: Trade Tensions Pose the Biggest Risk to the Global Economy (Bloomberg)

We’ve Been Here Before: Trump Once Again Backs Away From Tariffs, Touts Deal with Mexico (Bloomberg)

And the truth emerges:
-Mexico Doesn’t Back Up Trump’s Twitter Claims of Big Farm Deal (Bloomberg)
On Saturday Trump told his 61 million Twitter followers in an all-caps message that Mexico had agreed to “immediately begin buying large quantities of agricultural product from our great patriot farmers” following the border security deal.

Three Mexican officials said Saturday they were not aware of any side accord in the works, and that agricultural trade hadn’t been discussed during three days of negotiations in Washington that culminated in a joint communique late Friday.

-Mexico Agreed to Take Border Actions Months Before Trump Announced Tariff Deal (New York Times)

Economy Watch: U.S. Economy Celebrates 10 Years of Growth, But No One’s Partying (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Today in Finance:
-Frenzy: Green Finance Is Now $31 Trillion and Growing, Up 34% from 2016 (Bloomberg)
-LIBOR Slated to Go Away in 2021. Regulators Say Hurry Up and Drop It (The Economist)
-Standard Chartered to Become Third Bank to set up Singapore Pricing Engine, Further Consolidating Position as Asia’s FX Center (FX Week)

Decision Days Ahead: The Supreme Court’s Next Three Weeks Could Shake Up the 2020 Election (Bloomberg)
Between now and the end of June, the court will rule on two intensely political issues — whether President Trump’s administration can put a citizenship question on the 2020 census and whether federal courts can strike down voting maps as excessively partisan.

Supporting Reproductive Rights: US Tech CEOs Join Campaign for Abortion Access (Financial Times)
Bloomberg chairman Peter Grauer and nearly 200 US executives have signed an open letter arguing that restricting access to abortions is “bad for business”, putting pressure on state politicians over a polarizing issue companies had long preferred to avoid. The campaign brings together CEOs of technology companies Slack, Square and Yelp; fashion retailers Eileen Fisher and Diane von Furstenberg alongside leaders of scores of smaller companies.

Washington Post Front Page: NRA Money Flowed to Board Members Amid Allegedly Lavish Spending by Top Officials and Vendors (Washington Post)
A former pro football player who serves on the National Rifle Association board was paid $400,000 by the group in recent years for public outreach and firearms training. Another board member, a writer in New Mexico, collected more than $28,000 for articles in NRA publications. Yet another board member sold ammunition from his private company to the NRA for an undisclosed sum.

Ten Years of Transformation: New York’s High Line Park Opens Final Section (Associated Press)
When the High Line park opened in New York City, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg predicted the transformation of the abandoned, elevated freight line into an artsy public promenade would be “an extraordinary gift to our city’s future.”

A decade later, there’s no question the High Line has been a resounding success as an engine for tourism and neighborhood revitalization. Once a land of industrial buildings, parking lots and auto repair businesses, the neighborhood is now anchored at one end by the dazzling new home of the Whitney Museum of American Art and at the other by Hudson Yards, a $25 billion development of skyscrapers, shops and a performing arts center.

No Limits: ‘Oklahoma!’ Actress Ali Stroker Wins Tony Award, Making History (New York Times)
Ali Stroker became the first person who uses a wheelchair to be nominated for and win a Tony Award. “This award is for every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation, or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena—-you are,” she said in accepting the award for best actress in a featured role in a musical. Click here for the full list of winners and watch her inspiring acceptance here.

Best of late night.

James Corden hosted the Tony Awards on Sunday Night at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. From his opening monologue:

“I want you to know that in my eyes, you’re all winners. But by the end of the night, statistically speaking, you will be losers.”
–James Corden

On the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the 100 year anniversary of passage of the 19th Amendment allowing women to vote in the U.S.:

“A lot of anniversaries this week – the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote. Or as Republicans call it, D-Day.”
–Bill Maher

On President Trump’s deferral of military service in Vietnam:

“In his defense, he did see action at Studio 54. He was tasked with defending the VIP crowd from the Bridge and Tunnel crowd.”
–Bill Maher

On a water treatment chemical spill in Coal Grove, Ohio causing water to turn bright pink:

“Okay, these baby gender reveal parties are getting way out of hand!”
–Stephen Colbert