November 11, 2025 - If you've ever wondered what happens when global elites pat themselves on the back for saving the planet—while jetting in on private planes and gorging on burgers—welcome to COP30 in Belem, Brazil! As a veteran of these UN climate shindigs (that's 27 since the '90s, back when Al Gore was still pretending to invent the internet), I can tell you this one's already shaping up as the most disorganized one yet. They picked a sweltering hangar-turned-convention-center from the '90s and crammed 50,000 virtue-signalers into one sweatbox, actually called the “Hanger Convention Center”—and it's living up to every low expectation.

The CFACT crew rolled up to the Hangar Convention Center this morning, and the first sight? A hulking (what reminded me of a Soviet-era armored vehicle) flanked by a few soldiers not far away. They didn’t seem intimidating … actually, most were scanning their iPhones. But it did seem a bit out of place and made me wonder if the organizers were bracing for a peasant revolt. Silly, really.

Getting credentialed? A nightmare straight out of a government efficiency handbook—if there were such a thing. The lines snaked longer than a D.C. filibuster, in a hangar that could double as a sauna at times. I've queued up at Kyoto, Paris, etc, but this took the cake for sheer incompetence. Why on earth did they greenlight Belem for a mega-UN summit? Probably the same geniuses who thought carbon credits could replace common sense.

Once we finally breached the gates, the China Pavilion greeted us like a red-carpet splash – eye-catching and humming with that quiet confidence only an arrogant superpower like China might muster. It was buzzing like the old EF Hutton ads: "When China talks, people listen." And boy, do they. In this left-of-center echo chamber, Beijing's the 800-pound gorilla whispering sweet nothings about "cooperation" while cranking out coal plants at the rate of one or two per week.

We made the rounds with some delegations—United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and a couple others—laying out the plain truth: It's high time the U.S. and President Trump lead a walkout from these climate shackles, and they ought to get on board with us. No more footing the bill for climate virtue-signaling “Save the Earthers”. The politeness of these delegates was a breath of fresh air, and we left hoping maybe we got the wheels turning in their heads.

Lunch was supposed to be a pit stop, but it turned into another line from hell. In a climate confab peddling vegan salvation and low-emission kale smoothies, you'd figure the plant-based stuff would be flying off the shelves. Wrong. The masses mobbed “Bob's Burgers”. Yes, Bob’s had one token meatless option on the menu. But the rest? Nope. It was grease-dripping beef patties. Oddly, I didn’t see anyone particularly upset about the hypocrisy—but as I thought about it, I asked myself, “Why would I?” This is the crowd, of course, that takes private jets and limos to climate confabs.

But here's the real kicker about this lunch: It didn’t take cash or credit. They force-fed us this blue debit card scam—slap $100 or $200 on this card they offered us upfront, then pray you spend it – or else you lose it. No blue card, no chow. We learned the hard way, sweating through the long line only to hit the wall at checkout. What if there’s a leftover balance? Tough luck—it's theirs now. This is the green dream in action: A cashless dystopia where elites preload your compliance and skim the unspent surplus.

Post-lunch, we wandered the exhibit hall, and it was a venue that would make Al Gore proud. Booths hawking "Climate Consciousness", Gaia, and similar somethings or other. Then the red flags: "People’s Rising for Climate Justice" banners hinting at socialist revolution, right next to pitches for a "Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty" and "Ending Fossil Finance." As a conservative, you felt about as welcome as an Israeli military officer at a Greta Thunberg birthday party.

After this, we returned to the main convention hall where we experienced an “indoor monsoon” of sorts. The “wind” blew, plants and fauna started swaying, lights flickered and the sound of rain could be heard heavily pounding the convention center. No, it wasn’t a real rainstorm. It was a “faux” Hollywood version, which appeared to be a UN attempt at indoor weather modification. Honestly, I kind of liked it. Whatever “climate apocalypse” they thought they were creating to alarm people actually served to cool the delegates, which seemed to make them happy and thus undermine whatever alarmist message they were trying to make. I approve.

Day one's verdict? Same old song and dance: Elites preaching sacrifice to the peasants while living large. But hey, if we can peel off a few allies from this scam, maybe COP30 marks the beginning of the end for this global grift. Tomorrow? Who knows, but one thing is for sure: we at CFACT are on the case.