Vox Sentences: Shell Oil envisions a world that doesn’t need oil

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Stormy Daniels ups the pressure on Trump; Shell Oil releases a scenario of a world with much less ... oil.

Storm’s a-brewing

CBS via Getty Images

• Stormy Daniels is not going away quietly, and she has plenty of company. [CNN / Eli Watkins and Javier De Diego]
• On Monday, following a lengthy interview on CBS’s show 60 Minutes, Daniels amended a lawsuit she filed against Trump to sue Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen for defamation. Daniels claimed Cohen defamed her by insinuating she had lied about an affair with Trump. [Washington Post / Beth Reinhard and Emma Brown]
• This came after the adult film actress’s interview with Anderson Cooper aired on 60 Minutes on Sunday night, during which she said a man threatened her to keep quiet about her affair with Trump, after signing a nondisclosure agreement. [CBS News / Anderson Cooper]
• Daniels is not the only woman suing Trump; Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice, has accused Trump of sexual assault and of defaming her by calling her a liar. [Vox / Anna North]
• The New York Supreme Court allowed the Zervos case to go forward last week, meaning that Trump could be deposed and have to speak under oath. [Vox / Anna North]
• The story here isn’t so much that Trump had an affair. As Vox’s Dylan Matthews writes, it’s more about an abuse of power and attempts to intimidate these women and keep them silent. [Vox / Dylan Matthews]
• In case you were wondering whether allegations of extramarital affairs would be enough to dent Trump’s approval rating with evangelical voters, it’s not. Some are even using a biblical story to brush it aside. [Vox / Jane Coaston]
• In the middle of all this legal trouble over his personal life, Trump is hemorrhaging lawyers for another pressing legal problem of his: special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia and whether Trump obstructed justice. Lawyers are jumping ship, reportedly because Trump won’t follow their advice. [NYT / Michael Schmidt and Maggie Haberman]

Shell looks toward hydrogen energy

• Under pressure from some activist shareholders, the oil company Shell took the step of outlining what a world that is much less reliant on oil (and much more reliant on hydrogen) would look like. [Guardian / Adam Vaughan]
• Shell, which has said it supports the Paris climate agreement, outlined what it would take to reach the carbon reduction goals included in the international agreement. This scenario imagines a world with net-zero emissions state by 2070, and using a lot less oil to get there. It puts a big emphasis on hydrogen energy, and the report envisions some oil and gas storage facilities used to store hydrogen. [Washington Post / Chris Mooney and Steven Mufson]
• The company still has a long way to go to get there, but it’s starting to take steps, including selling off its stake in an Iraqi oilfield for millions. [The Times / Emily Gosden]
• It’s a push that’s been driven by activist shareholders in the company who are urging Shell officials to get serious about combating climate change through deeds, not just words. [Financial Times / Andrew Ward]

Miscellaneous

• Is the internet killing online comedy? Once the standard for written satire, The Onion is facing the same upheaval as everyone else in digital media. [The Ringer / Alison Herman and Victor Luckerson]
• Derek Alldred used fake identities to charm women and then steal their life savings. Then his victims got together to take him down. [Atlantic / Rachel Monroe]
• Daniel Brown and Susan Slusser are rivals, two sports reporters chasing after the same breaking news stories for competing publications. This is a love story. [Mercury News / Daniel Brown]
• The teens know how to protest gun violence: use all the memes. [Select All / Madison Malone Kircher]

Verbatim

“If the cheerleaders can’t contact the players, then the players shouldn’t be able to contact the cheerleaders. The antiquated stereotype of women needing to hide for their own protection is not permitted in America and certainly not in the workplace.” [Attorney Sara Blackwell to NYT / Ken Belson]

Watch this: Why selfies can make your nose look bigger

It’s not you. Selfies distort your face. [YouTube / Christophe Haubursin and Julia Belluz]

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