December 13, 2016
Liberal Levees and Legerdemain
Timothy Birdnow
In a blogpost at American Thinker Leesa K. Donner delineates a military rebellion against political correctness at the Army-Navy football game.
This would never have happened without Donald Trump's victory, a victory carried on the backs of disgust for political correctness and the endless leftist attempts to fundamentally transform America. What it illustrates quite plainly is that America has a natural channel, much like a river, and the Left may be able to control the flow by virtue of extreme labor, but the natural tendency is against them.
Think of a river; it has a channel and flows along that route to the sea. Now along come the social engineers - say, the Army Corpse of Social Engineers in this case, since the military is the proving ground for the Left's daft ideology - and they erect dams and levees and floodwalls and all the accutrements needed to control the river. That river is America herself, the heart and soul of a free and proud nation. The liberals who run things control that river through their domination of the means of dissemination of information, the news media, the schools and institutions of higher learning, the entertainment industry. The erect walls to hold back the patriotism, the moral clarity, the sense of duty to God and Country, the self-reliance. They do this by constantly reinforcing juvenile memes they have created to change the way we think. These are levees and floodwalls of the mind. They tell us crazy things, like men who dress as little girls can fight on the battlefield against true killers, and we are obliged to act as though we believe them or face a terrible retribution. All of their sacred cows are milked in this same fashion, whether it be gay marriage or the absolute physical equality of men and women (in movies 100 lb. women can beat up 220 lb. men easily) or notions that police are hunting poor black children because they hate them for their race or what have you. The left spins fantasies and nobody dare point to the imperial nudity lest they be punished.
This has gone on for a long, long, time, and it has not been limited to periods when the Democrats have been in power. The GOP Establishment is happy to sandbag the leveee walls as well.
Donald Trump, whether one likes him or not, campaigned on the banks of the river and not on top of the dam. He's carved a fissure in the floodwall, and the river of the American spirit is now starting to flow back onto it's natural course.
Which is why the left has been so panicked; they know in their hearts the nation they have created is artificial and will soon shatter under the weight of that flood. Their hope was that by making this alternate reality and maintaining it long enough the young people would grow to believe it, and it would become the new reality. It is little different from the moonbeam hippie who has a "visualize world peace" bumper sticker; the left believes that one can click heels together three times and say "there's no place like home" and viola! They key, in their view, is to maintain the fiction long enoough for it to become the reality.
And that is the key to the left; they are their own gods, the self-willed Supermen (or is it Superperson now?) of Nietzche. Reality is not something that won't go away, just something that may be difficult to change. It is a matter of Will to change it, in their view. Eternal vigilance is the price of godhood, to the liberals; being a god means endless labor to maintain your particular reality.
But it is as phony as the Indian Rope Trick, an illusion, a sleight-of-hand, maintained by the endless repitition of liberal media and professors and celebrities. In the end they don't really pull a quarter out of your ear.
Liberalism is nothing but a magic act. They use deception and tricks to create and reinforce their levee system. One good crack in it and the waters rush forth.
I think this Army-Navy football game behavior illustrates this perfectly.
In a blogpost at American Thinker Leesa K. Donner delineates a military rebellion against political correctness at the Army-Navy football game.
This would never have happened without Donald Trump's victory, a victory carried on the backs of disgust for political correctness and the endless leftist attempts to fundamentally transform America. What it illustrates quite plainly is that America has a natural channel, much like a river, and the Left may be able to control the flow by virtue of extreme labor, but the natural tendency is against them.
Think of a river; it has a channel and flows along that route to the sea. Now along come the social engineers - say, the Army Corpse of Social Engineers in this case, since the military is the proving ground for the Left's daft ideology - and they erect dams and levees and floodwalls and all the accutrements needed to control the river. That river is America herself, the heart and soul of a free and proud nation. The liberals who run things control that river through their domination of the means of dissemination of information, the news media, the schools and institutions of higher learning, the entertainment industry. The erect walls to hold back the patriotism, the moral clarity, the sense of duty to God and Country, the self-reliance. They do this by constantly reinforcing juvenile memes they have created to change the way we think. These are levees and floodwalls of the mind. They tell us crazy things, like men who dress as little girls can fight on the battlefield against true killers, and we are obliged to act as though we believe them or face a terrible retribution. All of their sacred cows are milked in this same fashion, whether it be gay marriage or the absolute physical equality of men and women (in movies 100 lb. women can beat up 220 lb. men easily) or notions that police are hunting poor black children because they hate them for their race or what have you. The left spins fantasies and nobody dare point to the imperial nudity lest they be punished.
This has gone on for a long, long, time, and it has not been limited to periods when the Democrats have been in power. The GOP Establishment is happy to sandbag the leveee walls as well.
Donald Trump, whether one likes him or not, campaigned on the banks of the river and not on top of the dam. He's carved a fissure in the floodwall, and the river of the American spirit is now starting to flow back onto it's natural course.
Which is why the left has been so panicked; they know in their hearts the nation they have created is artificial and will soon shatter under the weight of that flood. Their hope was that by making this alternate reality and maintaining it long enough the young people would grow to believe it, and it would become the new reality. It is little different from the moonbeam hippie who has a "visualize world peace" bumper sticker; the left believes that one can click heels together three times and say "there's no place like home" and viola! They key, in their view, is to maintain the fiction long enoough for it to become the reality.
And that is the key to the left; they are their own gods, the self-willed Supermen (or is it Superperson now?) of Nietzche. Reality is not something that won't go away, just something that may be difficult to change. It is a matter of Will to change it, in their view. Eternal vigilance is the price of godhood, to the liberals; being a god means endless labor to maintain your particular reality.
But it is as phony as the Indian Rope Trick, an illusion, a sleight-of-hand, maintained by the endless repitition of liberal media and professors and celebrities. In the end they don't really pull a quarter out of your ear.
Liberalism is nothing but a magic act. They use deception and tricks to create and reinforce their levee system. One good crack in it and the waters rush forth.
I think this Army-Navy football game behavior illustrates this perfectly.
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Electoral Shoplifting in Detroit
Timothy Birdnow
Seems over 37% of Detroit precincts registered more votes than voters.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/12/hacking_the_election_37_of_the_precincts_in_detroit_reported_more_votes_than_voters.html
Hillary's "titanic" popular vote victory was nothing but electoral shoplifting.
Seems over 37% of Detroit precincts registered more votes than voters.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/12/hacking_the_election_37_of_the_precincts_in_detroit_reported_more_votes_than_voters.html
Hillary's "titanic" popular vote victory was nothing but electoral shoplifting.
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Gang Green Flunks Kindergarten
Timothy Birdnow
Does anybody remember the old song about the old lady who swallowed a fly? To get rid of the fly she went on an eating binge, swallowing a spider, a bird, a cat, a dog, and finally a horse - which killed her.
Well, the Gang Green, the hysterics who worry carbon dioxide emissions are going to turn Earth into a twin of Venus and we are all going to die, are suggesting we geoengineer the planet, puffing great clouds of antacids into the atmosphere to reduce Earth's albedo and thus cool it.
A group of kidergarten-challenged Harvard eggheads led by one David Keith (you would think he'd have learned from Buffy and Jody...) suggests we belch massive quantaties of calcium carbonate into the air. The idea is this will block sunlight and cool the Earth while at the same time not damaging the ozone (as sulphur dioxide, the primary component of volcanic gas, would.) Calcium carbonate is the primary ingredient in most antacids, and is what gives Alka Selzer it's fizz.
There are several problems with this cock-eyed scheme, the most glaring being we have had no planetary warming over the last 18 years and starting a cooing trend when the planet's temperature is stable is illogical. If it isn't broken don't fix it. And who is going to pay for this? Who will authorize it? Do the work?
Also, there is evidence the Earth may be entering a new Little Ice Age, and this stupidity could push us into a BIG ice age if that is the case. Also, do we really understand enough to say this would be safe, that it wouldn't have some sort of dangerous effect, one of which we were unawares? Acid in the Earth's atmosphere is natural, and reducing it could disrupt some delicate chain we know nothing of, could perhaps kill off birds, or damage plankton, or who knows what? Certainly this calcium carbonate will fall out with the rains, and while the Gang Green has claimed there is ocean acidification (without any proof) what will this do? Alkalinization could be just as deadly to microorganisms in the oceans, or to fish or other sea creatures. And it won't come down in a thin, even coating but in fits and starts, so parts of the oceans could become quite alkaline (sea water is alkaline, not acidic, by the way.)
So, to fix a problem we created we may well have to do something else, which makes us fix the problems caused by THAT, and so on and so on.
Like our old lady with the dietary problems, we may wind up killing ourselves to save us.
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I don't know why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse
She's dead, of course.
Does anybody remember the old song about the old lady who swallowed a fly? To get rid of the fly she went on an eating binge, swallowing a spider, a bird, a cat, a dog, and finally a horse - which killed her.
Well, the Gang Green, the hysterics who worry carbon dioxide emissions are going to turn Earth into a twin of Venus and we are all going to die, are suggesting we geoengineer the planet, puffing great clouds of antacids into the atmosphere to reduce Earth's albedo and thus cool it.
A group of kidergarten-challenged Harvard eggheads led by one David Keith (you would think he'd have learned from Buffy and Jody...) suggests we belch massive quantaties of calcium carbonate into the air. The idea is this will block sunlight and cool the Earth while at the same time not damaging the ozone (as sulphur dioxide, the primary component of volcanic gas, would.) Calcium carbonate is the primary ingredient in most antacids, and is what gives Alka Selzer it's fizz.
There are several problems with this cock-eyed scheme, the most glaring being we have had no planetary warming over the last 18 years and starting a cooing trend when the planet's temperature is stable is illogical. If it isn't broken don't fix it. And who is going to pay for this? Who will authorize it? Do the work?
Also, there is evidence the Earth may be entering a new Little Ice Age, and this stupidity could push us into a BIG ice age if that is the case. Also, do we really understand enough to say this would be safe, that it wouldn't have some sort of dangerous effect, one of which we were unawares? Acid in the Earth's atmosphere is natural, and reducing it could disrupt some delicate chain we know nothing of, could perhaps kill off birds, or damage plankton, or who knows what? Certainly this calcium carbonate will fall out with the rains, and while the Gang Green has claimed there is ocean acidification (without any proof) what will this do? Alkalinization could be just as deadly to microorganisms in the oceans, or to fish or other sea creatures. And it won't come down in a thin, even coating but in fits and starts, so parts of the oceans could become quite alkaline (sea water is alkaline, not acidic, by the way.)
So, to fix a problem we created we may well have to do something else, which makes us fix the problems caused by THAT, and so on and so on.
Like our old lady with the dietary problems, we may wind up killing ourselves to save us.
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I don't know why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse
She's dead, of course.
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December 12, 2016
Tillerson May not be Sec. State
Jack Kemp forwards this:
http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=897154
Trump Tweets He May Not Name
Rex Tillerson Secretary of State
PJ Media, by Michael Van Der GaIien Original Article
- 12/11/2016 6:51:07 PM
Is it all just a game to Donald Trump? [snip] Mr. President-Elect, this is not American Idol. Or Celebrity Apprentice Goes to the White House. You are the next president of the United States -- the single most powerful country on earth -- and you are choosing your cabinet. It´s not a game; it´s very, very serious business. I get it that you love attention, but at a certain point a 70-year-old man destined to become president has to grow up. Sadly, I don´t see that happening with The Donald. To this guy, the world is but a stage
http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=897154
Trump Tweets He May Not Name
Rex Tillerson Secretary of State
PJ Media, by Michael Van Der GaIien Original Article
- 12/11/2016 6:51:07 PM
Is it all just a game to Donald Trump? [snip] Mr. President-Elect, this is not American Idol. Or Celebrity Apprentice Goes to the White House. You are the next president of the United States -- the single most powerful country on earth -- and you are choosing your cabinet. It´s not a game; it´s very, very serious business. I get it that you love attention, but at a certain point a 70-year-old man destined to become president has to grow up. Sadly, I don´t see that happening with The Donald. To this guy, the world is but a stage
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HildaStein Loses Penn Recount Appeal
Dana Mathewson
Zap!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/12/us-judge-rejects-green-partys-pennsylvania-recount-case.html
A federal judge on Monday issued a stinging rejection of a Green Party-backed request to recount paper ballots in Pennsylvania's presidential election, won by Republican Donald Trump, and scan some counties' election systems for signs of hacking.
Dana Mathewson
Zap!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/12/us-judge-rejects-green-partys-pennsylvania-recount-case.html
A federal judge on Monday issued a stinging rejection of a Green Party-backed request to recount paper ballots in Pennsylvania's presidential election, won by Republican Donald Trump, and scan some counties' election systems for signs of hacking.
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Bebe to Help Trump Kill Iran Deal
Dana Mathewson
More good news for a Monday morning.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/12/netanyahu-hopes-to-work-with-trump-to-undo-iran-nuclear-deal.html
President-elect Donald Trump will be a good friend to Israel and hopefully the two countries can work together to dismantle the international nuclear agreement with Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview Sunday.
More good news for a Monday morning.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/12/netanyahu-hopes-to-work-with-trump-to-undo-iran-nuclear-deal.html
President-elect Donald Trump will be a good friend to Israel and hopefully the two countries can work together to dismantle the international nuclear agreement with Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview Sunday.
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December 11, 2016
Republicans Acquiescing to Mark of Obama
Timothy Birdnow
The House Republicans are getting set to authorize a program cherished by Barack Obama to implant tracking chips in children and the elderly, as though they were dogs or cats.
Conservative HQ has the 411:
"In this case the bill creates a federal grant program to implant GPS microchips in children and the elderly, and a government database – run by the Department of Justice – to track their whereabouts.
H.R. 4919 proposes to reauthorize and expand an expired federal program, the Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Republican leadersPatient Alert Program.
If passed, the bill would create a $2 million grant program, administered by the Department of Justice, for the purpose of doling out federal funds to "health care agencies, state and local law enforcement agencies, or public safety agencies and nonprofit organizations to assist such entities in planning, designing, establishing, or operating locally based, proactive programs to prevent wandering and locate missing individuals†who suffer from various forms of mental impairment.
Funds would also be available to "provide education and training†to "school personnel, clinicians, and the public†for the purpose of improving safety and "reduc[ing] the incidence of wandering,†as well as to provide "prevention and response training and emergency protocols†for "school administrators, staff, and families.â€
The thrust of the proposed law, however, focuses on tracking devices, and would require the DOJ to award grants for the purpose of "designing, establishing, and operating locative tracking technology programs†for individuals suffering from developmental disabilities."
End excerpt.
The implications are staggering and the slippery slope argument applies; how long before such tracking devices become mandatory? There is much to be said for this, with the obvious benefits in terms of fighting terrorism and crime being priciple. But is it the right thing to do?
No, according to our good friends at CHQ:
"Think for example, of what an Obama Department of Justice, armed with this new power could do inspired by the push to confiscate the guns of elderly Veterans Administration patients who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Now think about the questions Obama pushed doctors to ask about gun ownership, there would be nothing to stop a future Obama-like administration from expanding the criteria for tracking to include virtually any indicator – a prescription for anti-depressants for example.
The bill in question, H.R. 4919, sounds innocuous enough noted our friend Jason Snead of the Heritage Foundation, who could object to efforts to find lost citizens suffering from Alzheimer’s and autism?
While the bill gives a head nod to the 4th Amendment, the potential for abuse of the system is readily apparent, and, when considering new federal laws, the most important question is not, "Is this a good idea?†Rather, policymakers need to first ask, "Is this a job for the federal government?â€
When it comes to tracking lost individuals, and implanting GPS tracking chips in citizens, the answer clearly must be no.
Now comes the really strange part of this bizarre attack on constitutional liberty and the right to be left alone by the government – this bill, in a Republican-controlled Congress, has been hot lined through the Senate, and the House Judiciary Committee scheduled a markup, but so many conservatives on the Committee objected that they canceled the markup."
End excerpt.
Amen to that! This could well violate the fourth amendment, and could be used to violate the First Amendment's right to freedom of religion as well. Oh, and speaking of religion, I would quote scripture:
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev. 12:15-17
The Mark of the Beast will not simply decend on us ready made, but will be created over time piecemeal, like all evil things. It will make perfect sense, have many good points to it. But in the end it will be an act of oppression on a monumental scale. It seems to me chipping the elderly and children is the beginning.
The House Republicans are getting set to authorize a program cherished by Barack Obama to implant tracking chips in children and the elderly, as though they were dogs or cats.
Conservative HQ has the 411:
"In this case the bill creates a federal grant program to implant GPS microchips in children and the elderly, and a government database – run by the Department of Justice – to track their whereabouts.
H.R. 4919 proposes to reauthorize and expand an expired federal program, the Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Republican leadersPatient Alert Program.
If passed, the bill would create a $2 million grant program, administered by the Department of Justice, for the purpose of doling out federal funds to "health care agencies, state and local law enforcement agencies, or public safety agencies and nonprofit organizations to assist such entities in planning, designing, establishing, or operating locally based, proactive programs to prevent wandering and locate missing individuals†who suffer from various forms of mental impairment.
Funds would also be available to "provide education and training†to "school personnel, clinicians, and the public†for the purpose of improving safety and "reduc[ing] the incidence of wandering,†as well as to provide "prevention and response training and emergency protocols†for "school administrators, staff, and families.â€
The thrust of the proposed law, however, focuses on tracking devices, and would require the DOJ to award grants for the purpose of "designing, establishing, and operating locative tracking technology programs†for individuals suffering from developmental disabilities."
End excerpt.
The implications are staggering and the slippery slope argument applies; how long before such tracking devices become mandatory? There is much to be said for this, with the obvious benefits in terms of fighting terrorism and crime being priciple. But is it the right thing to do?
No, according to our good friends at CHQ:
"Think for example, of what an Obama Department of Justice, armed with this new power could do inspired by the push to confiscate the guns of elderly Veterans Administration patients who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Now think about the questions Obama pushed doctors to ask about gun ownership, there would be nothing to stop a future Obama-like administration from expanding the criteria for tracking to include virtually any indicator – a prescription for anti-depressants for example.
The bill in question, H.R. 4919, sounds innocuous enough noted our friend Jason Snead of the Heritage Foundation, who could object to efforts to find lost citizens suffering from Alzheimer’s and autism?
While the bill gives a head nod to the 4th Amendment, the potential for abuse of the system is readily apparent, and, when considering new federal laws, the most important question is not, "Is this a good idea?†Rather, policymakers need to first ask, "Is this a job for the federal government?â€
When it comes to tracking lost individuals, and implanting GPS tracking chips in citizens, the answer clearly must be no.
Now comes the really strange part of this bizarre attack on constitutional liberty and the right to be left alone by the government – this bill, in a Republican-controlled Congress, has been hot lined through the Senate, and the House Judiciary Committee scheduled a markup, but so many conservatives on the Committee objected that they canceled the markup."
End excerpt.
Amen to that! This could well violate the fourth amendment, and could be used to violate the First Amendment's right to freedom of religion as well. Oh, and speaking of religion, I would quote scripture:
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev. 12:15-17
The Mark of the Beast will not simply decend on us ready made, but will be created over time piecemeal, like all evil things. It will make perfect sense, have many good points to it. But in the end it will be an act of oppression on a monumental scale. It seems to me chipping the elderly and children is the beginning.
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Trump Makes Globalist, Gay Activist Pick for Sec. State
Timothy Birdnow
The Strangelovian named Rex Tillerson, CEO of the most reviled Exxon Mobile oil company, has been named Secretary of State by Donald Trump.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/12/report-trump-name-exxon-mobil-ceo-rex-tillerson-secretary-state/
The 64 year old oil man will no doubt cause any manner of neurological attacks among Democrats and particularly environmentalists, who have often called Exxon Mobile "the most evil corporation on Earth" and that in a world where corporations are the most evil of all entitites. I can hear the wet splatting sound of liberal brains bursting from eggshell skulls.
Tillerson has ties to Russia, too! He was:
"vice president of Exxon Ventures (CIS) Inc. and president of Exxon Neftegas Limited. In those roles, he was responsible for Exxon’s holdings in Russia and the Caspian Sea as well as the Sakhalin I consortium operations offshore Sakhalin Island, Russia."
and
"In 2013, he was awarded the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin, president of the Russian Federation."
End excerpts.
He was also past president of the Boy Scouts of America and past director of the United Negro College Fund.
Tillerson is on record as saying he believes in manmade global warming and wants a carbon tax. He also advocates for Globalism. According to Wikipedia:
"Speaking in March 2007 at a Council on Foreign Relations event, Tillerson asked "Should the United States seek so-called energy independence in an elusive effort to insulate this country from the impact of world events on the economy, or should Americans pursue the path of international engagement, seeking ways to better compete within the global market for energy? Like the Council's founders, I believe we must choose the course of greater international engagement. ... The central reality is this: The global free market for energy provides the most effective means of achieving U.S. energy security by promoting resource development, enabling diversification, multiplying our supply channels, encouraging efficiency, and spurring innovation"
End excerpt.
And it was under Tillerson's watch that the Boy Scouts changed their rules to allow openly gay scouts. He is credited with implementing the rule change, a change destined to wreck this venerable and wholesome institution. Oh, and it is a violation of the Scout Oath to remain "morally straight".
In fact, Tillerson lobbied to end "don't ask, don't tell" in Scouting.
" Tillerson was instrumental in lobbying the Scouts’ board to accept openly gay youths, said John Hamre, president of the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, of which Tillerson is a board member.
He is a committed Congregationalist, which means he is a member of a Puritan-based sect of Christianity, one noted for being quite liberal. Despite protests to the contrary Congregationalists must admit:
"However, on the whole, one cannot deny the leftleaning legacy of the UCC and its predecessor bodies, says Greenhaw, a church historian. "We do have a history, as [UCC General Minister and President] John Thomas likes to say, of "getting there early.""
Greenhaw says there are at least four distinctive types of liberalism Ñtheological/philosophical, social, political and economic—and in at least some of these respects, the UCC could be considered liberal—especially in more-subtle, less-controversial ways.
The UCC"s theological liberalism, for example, is evident in its embrace of intellectual inquiry into matters of theology and scripture, as well as its long-held commitment to ecumenical dialogue and partnership, Greenhaw says, noting that these are liberal values shared widely in the UCC, but certainly not among all faith traditions.
Moreover, he says, "We believe in a social environment that allows people to be more free from constraints on behavior—not careless, but not overly restrained."
End excerpt.
And here is another criticism of the liberalosity of the Congregationalists.
So, while Tillerson will make heads explode he is not really a conservative, and he is likely to act more as a globalist.
This looks to me to be a bad pick.
The Strangelovian named Rex Tillerson, CEO of the most reviled Exxon Mobile oil company, has been named Secretary of State by Donald Trump.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/12/report-trump-name-exxon-mobil-ceo-rex-tillerson-secretary-state/
The 64 year old oil man will no doubt cause any manner of neurological attacks among Democrats and particularly environmentalists, who have often called Exxon Mobile "the most evil corporation on Earth" and that in a world where corporations are the most evil of all entitites. I can hear the wet splatting sound of liberal brains bursting from eggshell skulls.
Tillerson has ties to Russia, too! He was:
"vice president of Exxon Ventures (CIS) Inc. and president of Exxon Neftegas Limited. In those roles, he was responsible for Exxon’s holdings in Russia and the Caspian Sea as well as the Sakhalin I consortium operations offshore Sakhalin Island, Russia."
and
"In 2013, he was awarded the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin, president of the Russian Federation."
End excerpts.
He was also past president of the Boy Scouts of America and past director of the United Negro College Fund.
Tillerson is on record as saying he believes in manmade global warming and wants a carbon tax. He also advocates for Globalism. According to Wikipedia:
"Speaking in March 2007 at a Council on Foreign Relations event, Tillerson asked "Should the United States seek so-called energy independence in an elusive effort to insulate this country from the impact of world events on the economy, or should Americans pursue the path of international engagement, seeking ways to better compete within the global market for energy? Like the Council's founders, I believe we must choose the course of greater international engagement. ... The central reality is this: The global free market for energy provides the most effective means of achieving U.S. energy security by promoting resource development, enabling diversification, multiplying our supply channels, encouraging efficiency, and spurring innovation"
End excerpt.
And it was under Tillerson's watch that the Boy Scouts changed their rules to allow openly gay scouts. He is credited with implementing the rule change, a change destined to wreck this venerable and wholesome institution. Oh, and it is a violation of the Scout Oath to remain "morally straight".
In fact, Tillerson lobbied to end "don't ask, don't tell" in Scouting.
" Tillerson was instrumental in lobbying the Scouts’ board to accept openly gay youths, said John Hamre, president of the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, of which Tillerson is a board member.
"I can’t get into the intimacy of these conversations. But he agonized over this. He prayed on it, and ultimately he came to the conclusion the only thing that can guide him here is what’s best for the young boys,†he said. "I think he became a key leader in helping the group come to a consensus.â€
End excerpt.
He is a committed Congregationalist, which means he is a member of a Puritan-based sect of Christianity, one noted for being quite liberal. Despite protests to the contrary Congregationalists must admit:
"However, on the whole, one cannot deny the leftleaning legacy of the UCC and its predecessor bodies, says Greenhaw, a church historian. "We do have a history, as [UCC General Minister and President] John Thomas likes to say, of "getting there early.""
Greenhaw says there are at least four distinctive types of liberalism Ñtheological/philosophical, social, political and economic—and in at least some of these respects, the UCC could be considered liberal—especially in more-subtle, less-controversial ways.
The UCC"s theological liberalism, for example, is evident in its embrace of intellectual inquiry into matters of theology and scripture, as well as its long-held commitment to ecumenical dialogue and partnership, Greenhaw says, noting that these are liberal values shared widely in the UCC, but certainly not among all faith traditions.
Moreover, he says, "We believe in a social environment that allows people to be more free from constraints on behavior—not careless, but not overly restrained."
End excerpt.
And here is another criticism of the liberalosity of the Congregationalists.
So, while Tillerson will make heads explode he is not really a conservative, and he is likely to act more as a globalist.
This looks to me to be a bad pick.
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Cargo Cult Sea Level Study
Timothy Birdnow
(Here's one from the archives. Dovetails with Paul Driessen's piece below.)
Oops he did it again!
Michael Mann, U of Penn climate svengali, a member of the CRU (he figured prominently in the e-mail scandals at East Anglia) and great Pittsburg Penguins fan (he created the famed "hockey stick graph" that was so influential on the 2007 IPCC Climate Change report) has stepped in it again, this time co-authoring a new study (Kemp et. al) that claims to show a massive accelleration in sea level rise in North Carolina that coincides with the industrial era.
http://thegwpf.org/science-news/3267-new-sea-level-study-divides-climate-researchers-.html
This study http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/pnas_kemp-etal_2011_sea_level_rise.pdf claims to reconstruct 2000 years of sea levels. (It actually extrapolates from a study of shallow salt marshes with an historical reconstruction going back 300 years and based on the prevalance of foraminifera fossils to reconstruct the past sea levels. These reside in the very shallow, sandy pools and die in deeper waters, so theoretically we can see where sea levels were in the past.) They used tide gauge data to calibrate. By observing agreement between direct observations and this proxy reconstruction they can estimate the rate of rise and extrapolate into the past. Or so they claim.
They were exhaustive in their methodology; choosing a whopping two points (Sand Point and Tump Point) to study the fossils and calibrating from data from two other points (Wilmington and Hampton Roads). Their conclusion? Sea level rise has accelerated, and this "correlates" to the industrial era.
According to the abstract:
"Sea level was stable from at least BC 100 until AD 950. Sea level then increased for 400 y at a rate of 0.6 mm/y, followed by a further period of stable, or slightly falling, sea level that persisted until the late 19th century. Since then, sea level has risen at an average rate of 2.1 mm/y, representing the steepest century-scale increase of the past two millennia. This rate was initiated between AD 1865 and 1892"
end
Louisiana comes to mind.
http://www.tulane.edu/~bfleury/envirobio/enviroweb/LandLoss/LandLoss.htm
Louisiana has lost considerable coastal marshland as a result of human intervention. Flood control dams and levees prevent swollen rivers from picking up silt, and dredging to keep the coastal waterways open move the silt from it's natural place, leading to erosion of the coastal shallows. According to this Tulane.edu paper:
"The main forms of human disturbance are the river-control structures such as dams and levees, the dredging of canals, and draining and filling.
[...]
A large part of the sediment gathered by existing marshes is accumulated during seasonal flooding. Flood overtopping and overbank sedimentation, both vital to the survival of existing marshes, were dramatically reduced as large areas ceased to be flooded. River water also helped to reduce marsh salinity and provide nutrients, and its loss has resulted in the breakup and dispersal of large amounts of nutrient-starved marshlands."
end
And without the extra silt brought from floodwaters the shallows are subject to erosion and breakup. This would clearly warp the fossil record, but would also warp the tidal gauge record as well; the sea would appear to be rising when in fact the land is sinking, being washed away.
Writing in Wattsupwiththat http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/26/further-problems-with-kemp-and-mann/, Willis Eschenbach provides us with a map of the North Carolina sites from 1733 juxtaposed with a satellite photo from 1990. Notice the radical difference between the two.
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/kemp-historical.jpg
Clearly, erosion is a problem here, yet the authors of the paper fail to give it any credence. oF COURSE the fossil record will show sea level rise!
As to the "correlation" between the industrial era and this increase in rise rate, well, the rate increase appears to begin around 1880, well before the rise in industrial emissions. It would not be before increases in land-use change that would contribute to erosion.
The only plus in this work is that Mann signs off on the Medieval Warming Period and Little Ice Age - something he has steadfastly refused to do while defending his "hockey stick graph". This paper admits that both occured, and the authors should have realized that this also explains why there was sea-level rise increase during the 19th century, but it seems to go over their heads.
Of course, older tide gauge data is likely to be poor, too, and the older data is suspect.
And it's not even consistent with itself. According to Willis Eschenbach:
"The first conclusion is that as is not uncommon with sea level records, nearby tide gauges give very different changes in sea level. In this case, the Wilmington rise is 2.0 mm per year, while the Hampton Roads rise is more than twice that, 4.5 mm per year. In addition, the much shorter satellite records show only half a mm per year average rise for the last twenty years."
So they have taken two, count them, two records and averaged them!
This also contradicts all other studies that show a far lower sea-level rise.
This is in no way, shape, or form science; it is advocacy in costume. It's a play with sets, props, actors pretending to be a work of science. There was a predetermined outcome, the sites of study were chosen with that outcome in mind, and the authors issued a big, glossy press release before the publication of the paper in order to make a splash with the salivating dogs of the mainstream media. They knew this would be analyzed to death, but wanted it to get before the public first. Likely the public would hear that, yes, sea levels are rising faster and would get little of the rebuttal.
Despite this, people like Mann continue their climatological malpractice, and are even accorded respect. Such shoddy workmanship in any other field would put the principle into, well, another line of work.
But not in climatology; being a charlatan hack seems to be de rigouer.
This is cargo cult science at it's most onerous.
http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/cargocul.htm
(Here's one from the archives. Dovetails with Paul Driessen's piece below.)
Oops he did it again!
Michael Mann, U of Penn climate svengali, a member of the CRU (he figured prominently in the e-mail scandals at East Anglia) and great Pittsburg Penguins fan (he created the famed "hockey stick graph" that was so influential on the 2007 IPCC Climate Change report) has stepped in it again, this time co-authoring a new study (Kemp et. al) that claims to show a massive accelleration in sea level rise in North Carolina that coincides with the industrial era.
http://thegwpf.org/science-news/3267-new-sea-level-study-divides-climate-researchers-.html
This study http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/pnas_kemp-etal_2011_sea_level_rise.pdf claims to reconstruct 2000 years of sea levels. (It actually extrapolates from a study of shallow salt marshes with an historical reconstruction going back 300 years and based on the prevalance of foraminifera fossils to reconstruct the past sea levels. These reside in the very shallow, sandy pools and die in deeper waters, so theoretically we can see where sea levels were in the past.) They used tide gauge data to calibrate. By observing agreement between direct observations and this proxy reconstruction they can estimate the rate of rise and extrapolate into the past. Or so they claim.
They were exhaustive in their methodology; choosing a whopping two points (Sand Point and Tump Point) to study the fossils and calibrating from data from two other points (Wilmington and Hampton Roads). Their conclusion? Sea level rise has accelerated, and this "correlates" to the industrial era.
According to the abstract:
"Sea level was stable from at least BC 100 until AD 950. Sea level then increased for 400 y at a rate of 0.6 mm/y, followed by a further period of stable, or slightly falling, sea level that persisted until the late 19th century. Since then, sea level has risen at an average rate of 2.1 mm/y, representing the steepest century-scale increase of the past two millennia. This rate was initiated between AD 1865 and 1892"
end
Louisiana comes to mind.
http://www.tulane.edu/~bfleury/envirobio/enviroweb/LandLoss/LandLoss.htm
Louisiana has lost considerable coastal marshland as a result of human intervention. Flood control dams and levees prevent swollen rivers from picking up silt, and dredging to keep the coastal waterways open move the silt from it's natural place, leading to erosion of the coastal shallows. According to this Tulane.edu paper:
"The main forms of human disturbance are the river-control structures such as dams and levees, the dredging of canals, and draining and filling.
[...]
A large part of the sediment gathered by existing marshes is accumulated during seasonal flooding. Flood overtopping and overbank sedimentation, both vital to the survival of existing marshes, were dramatically reduced as large areas ceased to be flooded. River water also helped to reduce marsh salinity and provide nutrients, and its loss has resulted in the breakup and dispersal of large amounts of nutrient-starved marshlands."
end
And without the extra silt brought from floodwaters the shallows are subject to erosion and breakup. This would clearly warp the fossil record, but would also warp the tidal gauge record as well; the sea would appear to be rising when in fact the land is sinking, being washed away.
Writing in Wattsupwiththat http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/26/further-problems-with-kemp-and-mann/, Willis Eschenbach provides us with a map of the North Carolina sites from 1733 juxtaposed with a satellite photo from 1990. Notice the radical difference between the two.
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/kemp-historical.jpg
Clearly, erosion is a problem here, yet the authors of the paper fail to give it any credence. oF COURSE the fossil record will show sea level rise!
As to the "correlation" between the industrial era and this increase in rise rate, well, the rate increase appears to begin around 1880, well before the rise in industrial emissions. It would not be before increases in land-use change that would contribute to erosion.
The only plus in this work is that Mann signs off on the Medieval Warming Period and Little Ice Age - something he has steadfastly refused to do while defending his "hockey stick graph". This paper admits that both occured, and the authors should have realized that this also explains why there was sea-level rise increase during the 19th century, but it seems to go over their heads.
Of course, older tide gauge data is likely to be poor, too, and the older data is suspect.
And it's not even consistent with itself. According to Willis Eschenbach:
"The first conclusion is that as is not uncommon with sea level records, nearby tide gauges give very different changes in sea level. In this case, the Wilmington rise is 2.0 mm per year, while the Hampton Roads rise is more than twice that, 4.5 mm per year. In addition, the much shorter satellite records show only half a mm per year average rise for the last twenty years."
So they have taken two, count them, two records and averaged them!
This also contradicts all other studies that show a far lower sea-level rise.
This is in no way, shape, or form science; it is advocacy in costume. It's a play with sets, props, actors pretending to be a work of science. There was a predetermined outcome, the sites of study were chosen with that outcome in mind, and the authors issued a big, glossy press release before the publication of the paper in order to make a splash with the salivating dogs of the mainstream media. They knew this would be analyzed to death, but wanted it to get before the public first. Likely the public would hear that, yes, sea levels are rising faster and would get little of the rebuttal.
Despite this, people like Mann continue their climatological malpractice, and are even accorded respect. Such shoddy workmanship in any other field would put the principle into, well, another line of work.
But not in climatology; being a charlatan hack seems to be de rigouer.
This is cargo cult science at it's most onerous.
http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/cargocul.htm
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:56 AM
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Post contains 985 words, total size 7 kb.
Sea level rise – or land subsidence?
Paul Driessen
"Rising seas due to dangerous manmade climate change†remains a contentious issue, especially for areas like the Atlantic Coast’s Chesapeake Bay region. Some say seas could rise 2.5 to 7 feet or more by the end of the century around Norfolk, Virginia, home to America’s largest Navy base.
Even if that happens, the prediction combines multiple causes. Saltwater intrusion clearly has been an increasing problem here for decades, and storms have sent tides and waves further inland than in the past. Climate alarmists naturally attribute this to human fossil fuel use. They are wrong.
As we explain in this article, certainly for the Chesapeake region, the actual, primary cause of seawater intrusions is not rising oceans – but land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal from subsurface shale and sandstone formations, and to "glacial isostatic adjustments†that have been ongoing since the last glaciers melted. The solution therefore is not to continue trying to control Earth’s climate. It is to reduce groundwater removal in these coastal areas
Sea level rise – or land subsidence?
Alarmist claims about rising seas inundating coastal areas blame the wrong culprit
Paul Driessen and Roger Bezdek
In his 2006 Inconvenient Truth mockumentary, Al Gore infamously predicted melting ice caps would cause oceans to rise "up to 20 feet†(6.1 meters) "in the near future.†Kevin Costner’s 1995 "action thriller†Water World presumed totally melting planetary ice would almost submerge the continents.
However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated in 2007 that seas might rise up to only 2 feet by 2107. By comparison, oceans have risen nearly 400 feet since the last ice age ended, reflecting how much water was trapped in mile-thick glaciers that buried much of North America, Europe and Asia. In recent decades, though, global sea level rise has averaged just 7 inches per century – which may explain why Mr. Gore bought an $8.5-million mansion on the California coast in 2010.
And yet "rising seas due to dangerous manmade climate change†remains a contentious issue, with profound land use, wildlife, economic, insurance and policy implications – especially for certain regions, like the Atlantic Coast’s Chesapeake Bay region. Some say "seas could rise†2.5 to 7 feet (2.1 meters) or more by the end of the century around Norfolk, Virginia, a huge population and agricultural center and home to America’s largest Navy base. Even if that happens, the prediction combines multiple causes.
Saltwater intrusion clearly has been an increasing problem across much of this region for several decades, and storms have sent tides and waves further inland than in the past, flooding and battering homes, croplands and wildlife habitats. Climate alarmists attribute this danger to human fossil fuel use.
As a new report by Dr. Bezdek explains, reality is much different. (His report awaits publication in a scientific journal.) At least for the Chesapeake region, Houston-Galveston, Texas area, Santa Clara Valley, California and other places around the globe, the primary cause of seawater intrusions is not rising oceans – but land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal from subsurface shale and sandstone formations, and to "glacial isostatic adjustments†that have been ongoing since the last glaciers melted.
The solution therefore is not to continue trying to control Earth’s climate – an impossible, economy-busting task that would further impede fossil fuel use, economic development, job creation, and human health and welfare. The solution requires reducing groundwater removal in these coastal areas.
Ice age glaciers buried continental land masses under trillions of tons of ice. Land under the ice was pushed downward, while areas somewhat beyond the glaciers were forced up. Once the ice was gone, the compressed areas began to rise, while lands that had bulged upward began to sink. Isostatic subsidence is still occurring, at about 1 millimeter a year (4.4 inches per century) in the Chesapeake region.
While Chesapeake farms and cities have been utilizing groundwater for centuries, withdrawal rates from Virginia Coastal Plain aquifers skyrocketed between 1950 and 1970, as modern pumps took over. The rates have remained high ever since, causing significant land subsidence.
The aquifer systems involve layers of porous sandstone with water in the interstices between sand grains. These layers are sandwiched between layers (lenses) of impermeable but wet shale and clay. As water is pumped from the sandy layers, the shale-clay layers are squeezed like a sponge by hundreds of feet of overlying rock and sediment, forcing their water into less compressible sands, and then into pumps.
The amount of water in a system, its recharge rates (from rain, snowmelt and other sources), and the degree of compaction depend on how much water is being withdrawn, the thickness of sand and clay layers, and how compressible the layers are. Most of the pumped water ultimately comes from the clays, as they are squeezed dry. Analysts have estimated that 95% of water removed from Virginia Coastal Plain aquifers between 1891 and 1980 came from their clay layers, which have steadily compressed as a result.
Compression means subsidence, at 1.1-4.8 mm/yr – for an average rate of 11 inches per century, on top of the 4.4 in. per century in isostatic subsidence, and compared to the average sea level rise of 7 in. a century.
The net effect in Virginia’s Coastal Plain can thus be nearly 2 feet of subsidence per century. The impacts on land, habitat and property loss, saltwater intrusions, inland storm surges, farming, homes and other buildings, regional economics, wharves, piers and naval bases, and insurance rates is easy to discern.
Confusion arises because discussions often involve "relative sea level rise†– which combines glacial isostatic and groundwater subsidence, along with actual sea level rise – just as we just did with our 2 feet per century total. However, the term obscures what is really going on and lends itself to climate alarmism, by leaving the false impression that the entire problem is melting icecaps and rising seas.
It clearly is not. Focusing attention on alleged "manmade climate cataclysms,†supposedly driven by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, will result in our spending hundreds of billions of dollars to replace oil, gas and coal with expensive, subsidized, land-intensive renewable energy systems – while foregoing hundreds of billions of dollars in jobs and economic growth. Meanwhile, China, India, Indonesia and other developing nations will continue doing what they must to lift billions out of abject poverty and disease: burn more fossil fuels, thereby emitting more CO2.
Those nations are not about to succumb to the Obama EPA "social cost of carbon†con game. https://www.cfact.org/2014/02/16/carbon-benefits-exceed-costs-by-up-to-5001/ This is the fraudulent scheme under which bureaucrats blame US oil, gas and coal for every climate and weather event, habitat and species loss, and other problem that they can possibly conjure up anywhere in the world – while completely ignoring the phenomenal and undeniable benefits of using those fuels, and the equally important benefits of having more plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.
President-Elect Trump’s nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the EPA underscores his intent to end climate-obsessed government by junk science and Executive Branch decree.
What can be done about the real-world problems of "relative sea level rise� Sea levels will continue to rise (or fall) in response to ice growth and melting, caused by powerful natural forces over which humans have no control. Glacial isostatic subsidence will continue – albeit at a glacial or geologic pace – unless another ice age buries continents under more miles of ice, again lowering sea levels hundreds of feet, and wiping out arable land, growing seasons and agricultural productivity.
Moreover, once water has been squeezed out of the clay and shale, it cannot easily be replenished. That means the subsidence process cannot be reversed. However, we can nevertheless reduce or even halt subsidence due to groundwater extraction.
Rates and locations of land subsidence and relative sea level rise change over time. Accurate predictive tools and measurements are thus needed to improve our understanding of subsidence in particular areas. Although subsidence rates are not as high on the Atlantic Coast as they have been in the Houston-Galveston area or Santa Clara Valley, the problem is nonetheless serious because of the southern Chesapeake Bay region’s low-lying topography and consequent susceptibility to ocean water intrusion.
In the Houston-Galveston area and Santa Clara Valley, resource managers have moved groundwater pumping away from the coast, reduced groundwater withdrawal rates, increased aquifer recharge and substitutÂed surface water for groundwater supplies. These actions have successfully stopped subsidence in the Santa Clara Valley and slowed the process in the Houston-Galveston area.
Similar steps could be taken in Virginia’s Tidewater or Coastal Plain region. In addition, pipelines could bring fresh water from nearby lakes and rivers, replacing at least some of what is now provided by wells. Yet another option might be to construct one or more desalination plants (in California and Texas, as well), utilizing nuclear or natural gas power to operate facilities that utilize new Israeli technologies that employ a chemical-free reverse osmosis process that converts seawater into freshwater for pennies per gallon.
The new Congress and Executive Branch need to focus our limited money and resources on real problems and viable solutions – not on their false, politically correct, anti-development alter egos.
Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org), and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power - Black death. Roger Bezdek is an internationally recognized energy analyst and president of Management Information Services, Inc. (www.MISI-net.com).
EDITOR'S NOTE;
I discussed the effects of flood control and how such efforts effect sea level rise in an article at American Thinker that dovetails nicely with this. See
"Rising seas due to dangerous manmade climate change†remains a contentious issue, especially for areas like the Atlantic Coast’s Chesapeake Bay region. Some say seas could rise 2.5 to 7 feet or more by the end of the century around Norfolk, Virginia, home to America’s largest Navy base.
Even if that happens, the prediction combines multiple causes. Saltwater intrusion clearly has been an increasing problem here for decades, and storms have sent tides and waves further inland than in the past. Climate alarmists naturally attribute this to human fossil fuel use. They are wrong.
As we explain in this article, certainly for the Chesapeake region, the actual, primary cause of seawater intrusions is not rising oceans – but land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal from subsurface shale and sandstone formations, and to "glacial isostatic adjustments†that have been ongoing since the last glaciers melted. The solution therefore is not to continue trying to control Earth’s climate. It is to reduce groundwater removal in these coastal areas
Sea level rise – or land subsidence?
Alarmist claims about rising seas inundating coastal areas blame the wrong culprit
Paul Driessen and Roger Bezdek
In his 2006 Inconvenient Truth mockumentary, Al Gore infamously predicted melting ice caps would cause oceans to rise "up to 20 feet†(6.1 meters) "in the near future.†Kevin Costner’s 1995 "action thriller†Water World presumed totally melting planetary ice would almost submerge the continents.
However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated in 2007 that seas might rise up to only 2 feet by 2107. By comparison, oceans have risen nearly 400 feet since the last ice age ended, reflecting how much water was trapped in mile-thick glaciers that buried much of North America, Europe and Asia. In recent decades, though, global sea level rise has averaged just 7 inches per century – which may explain why Mr. Gore bought an $8.5-million mansion on the California coast in 2010.
And yet "rising seas due to dangerous manmade climate change†remains a contentious issue, with profound land use, wildlife, economic, insurance and policy implications – especially for certain regions, like the Atlantic Coast’s Chesapeake Bay region. Some say "seas could rise†2.5 to 7 feet (2.1 meters) or more by the end of the century around Norfolk, Virginia, a huge population and agricultural center and home to America’s largest Navy base. Even if that happens, the prediction combines multiple causes.
Saltwater intrusion clearly has been an increasing problem across much of this region for several decades, and storms have sent tides and waves further inland than in the past, flooding and battering homes, croplands and wildlife habitats. Climate alarmists attribute this danger to human fossil fuel use.
As a new report by Dr. Bezdek explains, reality is much different. (His report awaits publication in a scientific journal.) At least for the Chesapeake region, Houston-Galveston, Texas area, Santa Clara Valley, California and other places around the globe, the primary cause of seawater intrusions is not rising oceans – but land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal from subsurface shale and sandstone formations, and to "glacial isostatic adjustments†that have been ongoing since the last glaciers melted.
The solution therefore is not to continue trying to control Earth’s climate – an impossible, economy-busting task that would further impede fossil fuel use, economic development, job creation, and human health and welfare. The solution requires reducing groundwater removal in these coastal areas.
Ice age glaciers buried continental land masses under trillions of tons of ice. Land under the ice was pushed downward, while areas somewhat beyond the glaciers were forced up. Once the ice was gone, the compressed areas began to rise, while lands that had bulged upward began to sink. Isostatic subsidence is still occurring, at about 1 millimeter a year (4.4 inches per century) in the Chesapeake region.
While Chesapeake farms and cities have been utilizing groundwater for centuries, withdrawal rates from Virginia Coastal Plain aquifers skyrocketed between 1950 and 1970, as modern pumps took over. The rates have remained high ever since, causing significant land subsidence.
The aquifer systems involve layers of porous sandstone with water in the interstices between sand grains. These layers are sandwiched between layers (lenses) of impermeable but wet shale and clay. As water is pumped from the sandy layers, the shale-clay layers are squeezed like a sponge by hundreds of feet of overlying rock and sediment, forcing their water into less compressible sands, and then into pumps.
The amount of water in a system, its recharge rates (from rain, snowmelt and other sources), and the degree of compaction depend on how much water is being withdrawn, the thickness of sand and clay layers, and how compressible the layers are. Most of the pumped water ultimately comes from the clays, as they are squeezed dry. Analysts have estimated that 95% of water removed from Virginia Coastal Plain aquifers between 1891 and 1980 came from their clay layers, which have steadily compressed as a result.
Compression means subsidence, at 1.1-4.8 mm/yr – for an average rate of 11 inches per century, on top of the 4.4 in. per century in isostatic subsidence, and compared to the average sea level rise of 7 in. a century.
The net effect in Virginia’s Coastal Plain can thus be nearly 2 feet of subsidence per century. The impacts on land, habitat and property loss, saltwater intrusions, inland storm surges, farming, homes and other buildings, regional economics, wharves, piers and naval bases, and insurance rates is easy to discern.
Confusion arises because discussions often involve "relative sea level rise†– which combines glacial isostatic and groundwater subsidence, along with actual sea level rise – just as we just did with our 2 feet per century total. However, the term obscures what is really going on and lends itself to climate alarmism, by leaving the false impression that the entire problem is melting icecaps and rising seas.
It clearly is not. Focusing attention on alleged "manmade climate cataclysms,†supposedly driven by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, will result in our spending hundreds of billions of dollars to replace oil, gas and coal with expensive, subsidized, land-intensive renewable energy systems – while foregoing hundreds of billions of dollars in jobs and economic growth. Meanwhile, China, India, Indonesia and other developing nations will continue doing what they must to lift billions out of abject poverty and disease: burn more fossil fuels, thereby emitting more CO2.
Those nations are not about to succumb to the Obama EPA "social cost of carbon†con game. https://www.cfact.org/2014/02/16/carbon-benefits-exceed-costs-by-up-to-5001/ This is the fraudulent scheme under which bureaucrats blame US oil, gas and coal for every climate and weather event, habitat and species loss, and other problem that they can possibly conjure up anywhere in the world – while completely ignoring the phenomenal and undeniable benefits of using those fuels, and the equally important benefits of having more plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.
President-Elect Trump’s nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the EPA underscores his intent to end climate-obsessed government by junk science and Executive Branch decree.
What can be done about the real-world problems of "relative sea level rise� Sea levels will continue to rise (or fall) in response to ice growth and melting, caused by powerful natural forces over which humans have no control. Glacial isostatic subsidence will continue – albeit at a glacial or geologic pace – unless another ice age buries continents under more miles of ice, again lowering sea levels hundreds of feet, and wiping out arable land, growing seasons and agricultural productivity.
Moreover, once water has been squeezed out of the clay and shale, it cannot easily be replenished. That means the subsidence process cannot be reversed. However, we can nevertheless reduce or even halt subsidence due to groundwater extraction.
Rates and locations of land subsidence and relative sea level rise change over time. Accurate predictive tools and measurements are thus needed to improve our understanding of subsidence in particular areas. Although subsidence rates are not as high on the Atlantic Coast as they have been in the Houston-Galveston area or Santa Clara Valley, the problem is nonetheless serious because of the southern Chesapeake Bay region’s low-lying topography and consequent susceptibility to ocean water intrusion.
In the Houston-Galveston area and Santa Clara Valley, resource managers have moved groundwater pumping away from the coast, reduced groundwater withdrawal rates, increased aquifer recharge and substitutÂed surface water for groundwater supplies. These actions have successfully stopped subsidence in the Santa Clara Valley and slowed the process in the Houston-Galveston area.
Similar steps could be taken in Virginia’s Tidewater or Coastal Plain region. In addition, pipelines could bring fresh water from nearby lakes and rivers, replacing at least some of what is now provided by wells. Yet another option might be to construct one or more desalination plants (in California and Texas, as well), utilizing nuclear or natural gas power to operate facilities that utilize new Israeli technologies that employ a chemical-free reverse osmosis process that converts seawater into freshwater for pennies per gallon.
The new Congress and Executive Branch need to focus our limited money and resources on real problems and viable solutions – not on their false, politically correct, anti-development alter egos.
Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org), and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power - Black death. Roger Bezdek is an internationally recognized energy analyst and president of Management Information Services, Inc. (www.MISI-net.com).
EDITOR'S NOTE;
I discussed the effects of flood control and how such efforts effect sea level rise in an article at American Thinker that dovetails nicely with this. See
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:42 AM
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Post contains 1614 words, total size 11 kb.
December 10, 2016
About John Glenn's heroic ride
Jack Kemp
Rush Limbaugh's comments about the heroic efforts of early space traveler, now deceased, John Glenn brought me to an earlier time and a visit to the New York World's Fair in 1964.
Rush talked of Glenn riding into space in a capsule less than the size of a bathtub and how brave that act was. This brought back a memory of a visit to the U.S. Space Park at the World's Fair when I was a teenager.http://thedisplayers.com/missouri-pavilion-1964-worlds-fair/ Sitting there outdoors where you could walk up to it and examine it, an actual Auroura 7 space capsule flown into space by Scott Carpenter and manufactured by McDonald Aircraft of St. Louis, MO before the company became McDonald Douglas.
In this photo of the actuall display at the1964 World's Fair http://americanspacecraft.com/images/mercury/chicago/ussppk12.jpg you can see two men standing next to the capsule which gives you an idea of exactly how small this thing really is. Imagine riding both into and out of orbit for about five hours in such a craft less than the interior size of a bathtub. Today this capsule can be seen on display at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry in this photo collection at their website at http://americanspacecraft.com/pages/mercury/ma-7.html
Rush Limbaugh's comments about the heroic efforts of early space traveler, now deceased, John Glenn brought me to an earlier time and a visit to the New York World's Fair in 1964.
Rush talked of Glenn riding into space in a capsule less than the size of a bathtub and how brave that act was. This brought back a memory of a visit to the U.S. Space Park at the World's Fair when I was a teenager.http://thedisplayers.com/missouri-pavilion-1964-worlds-fair/ Sitting there outdoors where you could walk up to it and examine it, an actual Auroura 7 space capsule flown into space by Scott Carpenter and manufactured by McDonald Aircraft of St. Louis, MO before the company became McDonald Douglas.
In this photo of the actuall display at the1964 World's Fair http://americanspacecraft.com/images/mercury/chicago/ussppk12.jpg you can see two men standing next to the capsule which gives you an idea of exactly how small this thing really is. Imagine riding both into and out of orbit for about five hours in such a craft less than the interior size of a bathtub. Today this capsule can be seen on display at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry in this photo collection at their website at http://americanspacecraft.com/pages/mercury/ma-7.html
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Obama Slapping the Russian Bear
Timothy Birdnow
The U.S. is greatly increasing it's presence in the Black Sea, accoring to Pravda.
From the article:
"The US Navy may increase the duration of its patrol operations in the Black Sea up to four months. In addition, the Americans will be able to increase the number of warships in the region should they find challenges in the region serious, US Navy Vice Admiral James Foggo said.
Currently, in accordance with the Montreux Convention, US Navy ships can not stay in the Black Sea for more than 21 days. The convention, adopted in 1936, strictly regulates the presence of non-Black Sea countries in the region. For example, US aircraft carriers are not allowed to enter the Black Sea.
It appears that the Pentagon has publicly declared its disregard for international rules. No country is allowed to single-handedly introduce changes in international laws. The USA is located too far from the Black Sea. Plus, the country is not a member of the Montreux Convention. US officials have repeatedly stated that the USA was not obliged to abide by its regulation.
Noteworthy, defense ministers of NATO countries discussed the moves to increase their military presence in the region at a meeting held in late October in Brussels. NATO representative Dylan White said that the alliance was changing priorities. According to the official, the alliance was going to concentrate on operations to counter illegal transporters of people in the Mediterranean. Additionally, he added, NATO would pay much attention to the "containment of Russia" in the Baltic and Black Seas."
End excerpt.
This is interesting in light of the Obama Administration's libelous accusations that Russia interfered with the U.S. elections and increased tensions between Russia and the U.S. in Syria and the rest of the Middle East. Obama, who promised a "reset" of relations with Russia and largely caved in to their demands on almost every issue, is suddenly finding his teeth in dealing with the Great Bear.
And this at a time when he is a lame duck. One must question the purpose of this provocative action now.
It's as if he wants things to blow up as soon as he leaves office.
This is dangerous; Russia is still a major power if lacking the international reach of the old Soviet Union. They have a nuclear arsenal as large as ours and much, much younger. We are rubbing elbows with them in Syria, and the dangers of a war breaking out between us are certainly not zero.
Obama is a community organizer, not a statesmen, and he think about maximizing chaos to achieve his political ends. Ruining relations with the Russians does not serve the national or world interests, but it serves his program of discrediting his non-socialist successor just fine.
History cannot flush this guy down the sewage pipe fast enough to suit me.
The U.S. is greatly increasing it's presence in the Black Sea, accoring to Pravda.
From the article:
"The US Navy may increase the duration of its patrol operations in the Black Sea up to four months. In addition, the Americans will be able to increase the number of warships in the region should they find challenges in the region serious, US Navy Vice Admiral James Foggo said.
Currently, in accordance with the Montreux Convention, US Navy ships can not stay in the Black Sea for more than 21 days. The convention, adopted in 1936, strictly regulates the presence of non-Black Sea countries in the region. For example, US aircraft carriers are not allowed to enter the Black Sea.
It appears that the Pentagon has publicly declared its disregard for international rules. No country is allowed to single-handedly introduce changes in international laws. The USA is located too far from the Black Sea. Plus, the country is not a member of the Montreux Convention. US officials have repeatedly stated that the USA was not obliged to abide by its regulation.
Noteworthy, defense ministers of NATO countries discussed the moves to increase their military presence in the region at a meeting held in late October in Brussels. NATO representative Dylan White said that the alliance was changing priorities. According to the official, the alliance was going to concentrate on operations to counter illegal transporters of people in the Mediterranean. Additionally, he added, NATO would pay much attention to the "containment of Russia" in the Baltic and Black Seas."
End excerpt.
This is interesting in light of the Obama Administration's libelous accusations that Russia interfered with the U.S. elections and increased tensions between Russia and the U.S. in Syria and the rest of the Middle East. Obama, who promised a "reset" of relations with Russia and largely caved in to their demands on almost every issue, is suddenly finding his teeth in dealing with the Great Bear.
And this at a time when he is a lame duck. One must question the purpose of this provocative action now.
It's as if he wants things to blow up as soon as he leaves office.
This is dangerous; Russia is still a major power if lacking the international reach of the old Soviet Union. They have a nuclear arsenal as large as ours and much, much younger. We are rubbing elbows with them in Syria, and the dangers of a war breaking out between us are certainly not zero.
Obama is a community organizer, not a statesmen, and he think about maximizing chaos to achieve his political ends. Ruining relations with the Russians does not serve the national or world interests, but it serves his program of discrediting his non-socialist successor just fine.
History cannot flush this guy down the sewage pipe fast enough to suit me.
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11:46 AM
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Congress FINALLY Restores Water to California's San Joaqiun Valley
Timothy Birdnow
After 25 years of liberal choking off water to the (largely Republican) San Joaqiun Valley in California, changes in water regulations have finally turned on the spigot.
According to Michael Doyle at the Belleville News Democrat:
WASHINGTON
The California water bill now ready for the president's signature dramatically shifts 25 years of federal policy and culminates a long and fractious campaign born in the drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley.
A rough five years in the making, the $558 million bill approved by the Senate early Saturday morning steers more water to farmers, eases dam construction, and funds desalination and recycling projects. Its rocky road to the White House also proved a costly master class in political persistence and adroit maneuvering.
"I believe these provisions are both necessary, and will help our state,†said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Feinstein and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, and their staffs, crafted the final water package, which the Senate approved on a 78-21 vote. They also made the hard-ball tactical choice to fold it into a widely popular infrastructure bill, which eased Senate passage while it left retiring Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer fuming.
"I think it is absolutely a horrible process, a horrible rider,†Boxer said during floor debate Friday. "It’s going to result in pain and suffering among our fishing families.â€
Boxer cited, in particular, California’s salmon industry, whose members fear the diversion of water will deplete rivers critical to salmon reproduction.
Boxer’s post-midnight vote against the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, which included the approximately 98-page California bill, was likely to be the last of her 33-year congressional career. It was a sour ending for her long-time Senate partnership with Feinstein, with whom she’s amicably served since 1993.
End excerpt.
For years water has been denied to San Joaqiun farmers. The Imperial Valley is one of the most fertile and productive lands on Earth - or it used to be until the water was shut off. This was done to save a bait fish, and likely punish the last stronghold of the old Reagan Republican base in California.
Funny how Trump isn't even in office yet and suddenly these things that have been logjammed are starting to move. Did Congress finally get the message?
After 25 years of liberal choking off water to the (largely Republican) San Joaqiun Valley in California, changes in water regulations have finally turned on the spigot.
According to Michael Doyle at the Belleville News Democrat:
WASHINGTON
The California water bill now ready for the president's signature dramatically shifts 25 years of federal policy and culminates a long and fractious campaign born in the drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley.
A rough five years in the making, the $558 million bill approved by the Senate early Saturday morning steers more water to farmers, eases dam construction, and funds desalination and recycling projects. Its rocky road to the White House also proved a costly master class in political persistence and adroit maneuvering.
"I believe these provisions are both necessary, and will help our state,†said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Feinstein and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, and their staffs, crafted the final water package, which the Senate approved on a 78-21 vote. They also made the hard-ball tactical choice to fold it into a widely popular infrastructure bill, which eased Senate passage while it left retiring Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer fuming.
"I think it is absolutely a horrible process, a horrible rider,†Boxer said during floor debate Friday. "It’s going to result in pain and suffering among our fishing families.â€
Boxer cited, in particular, California’s salmon industry, whose members fear the diversion of water will deplete rivers critical to salmon reproduction.
Boxer’s post-midnight vote against the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, which included the approximately 98-page California bill, was likely to be the last of her 33-year congressional career. It was a sour ending for her long-time Senate partnership with Feinstein, with whom she’s amicably served since 1993.
End excerpt.
For years water has been denied to San Joaqiun farmers. The Imperial Valley is one of the most fertile and productive lands on Earth - or it used to be until the water was shut off. This was done to save a bait fish, and likely punish the last stronghold of the old Reagan Republican base in California.
Funny how Trump isn't even in office yet and suddenly these things that have been logjammed are starting to move. Did Congress finally get the message?
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:21 AM
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Merry Christmas to Y'all!
Dana Mathewson
Amen!
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/12/09/texas-attorney-general-drops-great-big-yuletide-truth-bomb-on-school-district.html
Christmas in the Lone Star state has no greater defender than Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Dana Mathewson
Amen!
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/12/09/texas-attorney-general-drops-great-big-yuletide-truth-bomb-on-school-district.html
Christmas in the Lone Star state has no greater defender than Attorney General Ken Paxton.
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11:20 AM
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Lock Her Up Morphing to "Help Her Up"?
Timothy Birdnow
Trump says "lock her up!" was just election hyperbole.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-clinton-lock-her-up_us_584b5b53e4b04c8e2bb01274
"As Trump spoke at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as part of his post-election "Thank You Tour,†some supporters began chanting "lock her up†― a common refrain during the Republican convention and Trump’s campaign events."
End excerpt.
The Rule of Law was one of Trump's strengths. If he refuses to let justice take it's proper course he will be as bad as the Establishment types he replaced. We will have to replace HIM.
Don't forget who brung you to the dance, Donnie boy!
Trump says "lock her up!" was just election hyperbole.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-clinton-lock-her-up_us_584b5b53e4b04c8e2bb01274
"As Trump spoke at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as part of his post-election "Thank You Tour,†some supporters began chanting "lock her up†― a common refrain during the Republican convention and Trump’s campaign events."
End excerpt.
The Rule of Law was one of Trump's strengths. If he refuses to let justice take it's proper course he will be as bad as the Establishment types he replaced. We will have to replace HIM.
Don't forget who brung you to the dance, Donnie boy!
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11:05 AM
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Trump Squishing on Amnesty?
Timothy Birdnow
Trump's pick for Sec. of Labor is a big fan of illegal immigration, or so I've heard. Well, turns out Jeb "it's an act of love" Bush and Eric "hey brother can you spare a dime" Cantor both are quite happy with this pick.
According to Breitbart:
Andy Puzder, Trump’s immigration-boosting nominee to become the Secretary of Labor, promptly sent his very public thanks to the two defeated leaders for their support.
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
*
Thanks @JebBush for the kind words. I look forwarding to working with @realDonaldTrump to put American workers back to work.
— Andy Puzder (@AndyPuzder) December 9, 2016
Thanks @EricCantor. It’s an honor to be nominated!
— Andy Puzder (@AndyPuzder) December 9, 2016
Puzder is currently the CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc., whose revenue comes from franchise fees paid by low-wage Hardee’s and Carls Jr. restaurants. The franchised restaurants pay 4 percent of their total revenue to CKE.
On Thursday night, Puzder tweeted his 2017 priorities for the Department of Labor —to grow businesses and create jobs — but did not mention Americans’ wages or working conditions, or if those jobs would go to Americans or to immigrant workers.
As Sec of @USDOL, I look forward to working w/ @realDonaldTrump to enact policies that create #jobs & grow businesses #DepartmentofLabor
— Andy Puzder (@AndyPuzder) December 9, 2016
End excerpt.
Couple this with our old buddy Paul "Pee Wee" Ryan and his dancing teeth saying we won't kick out the illegally-amnetized "dreamers", and it appears that THE fundamental campaign promise of Mr. Trump may be in some danger.
(by the way, Reince Preibus is loading up the Trump Administration with GOP hacks.)
Donald Trump is a double minded man. The Bible says that a double minded man is unstable, and thus cannot be depended upon. Trump is often for something before being against; he signed an open letter decrying global warming and demanding action before becoming a "sceptic". He gave money to the Clinton Foundation and said Hillary would be a great president. He is a man whose opinions sway because in his heart he has no ideological moorings i.e. he isn't propelled by his faith or his sense of purpose so much as pragmatism, what will work for him. This makes for a double minded man, as pragmatism means allowing the current to take you downstream rather than make the laborious effort to paddle upward.
We must hope and pray Trump does not fail us on this; it is his principle campaign promise, the reason people voted for him. If he reneges on this he will be a one term president and Hillary or Uncle Joe, or some no-name Democrat will replace him.
Trump's pick for Sec. of Labor is a big fan of illegal immigration, or so I've heard. Well, turns out Jeb "it's an act of love" Bush and Eric "hey brother can you spare a dime" Cantor both are quite happy with this pick.
According to Breitbart:
Andy Puzder, Trump’s immigration-boosting nominee to become the Secretary of Labor, promptly sent his very public thanks to the two defeated leaders for their support.
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
*
Thanks @JebBush for the kind words. I look forwarding to working with @realDonaldTrump to put American workers back to work.
— Andy Puzder (@AndyPuzder) December 9, 2016
Thanks @EricCantor. It’s an honor to be nominated!
— Andy Puzder (@AndyPuzder) December 9, 2016
Puzder is currently the CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc., whose revenue comes from franchise fees paid by low-wage Hardee’s and Carls Jr. restaurants. The franchised restaurants pay 4 percent of their total revenue to CKE.
On Thursday night, Puzder tweeted his 2017 priorities for the Department of Labor —to grow businesses and create jobs — but did not mention Americans’ wages or working conditions, or if those jobs would go to Americans or to immigrant workers.
As Sec of @USDOL, I look forward to working w/ @realDonaldTrump to enact policies that create #jobs & grow businesses #DepartmentofLabor
— Andy Puzder (@AndyPuzder) December 9, 2016
End excerpt.
Couple this with our old buddy Paul "Pee Wee" Ryan and his dancing teeth saying we won't kick out the illegally-amnetized "dreamers", and it appears that THE fundamental campaign promise of Mr. Trump may be in some danger.
(by the way, Reince Preibus is loading up the Trump Administration with GOP hacks.)
Donald Trump is a double minded man. The Bible says that a double minded man is unstable, and thus cannot be depended upon. Trump is often for something before being against; he signed an open letter decrying global warming and demanding action before becoming a "sceptic". He gave money to the Clinton Foundation and said Hillary would be a great president. He is a man whose opinions sway because in his heart he has no ideological moorings i.e. he isn't propelled by his faith or his sense of purpose so much as pragmatism, what will work for him. This makes for a double minded man, as pragmatism means allowing the current to take you downstream rather than make the laborious effort to paddle upward.
We must hope and pray Trump does not fail us on this; it is his principle campaign promise, the reason people voted for him. If he reneges on this he will be a one term president and Hillary or Uncle Joe, or some no-name Democrat will replace him.
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10:01 AM
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Tom Harris commentary: Conservatives must support Trump on climate
Paul Driessen
Not only has President-elect Donald Trump been right on the money in describing the sub-prime science underlying the "dangerous manmade climate change†scare. Mr. Trump clearly understands that there is little chance the developing world, the source of most of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions, will follow the US lead anyway, as it strives to lift billions out of poverty.
To top it off, after appointing Myron Ebell to head the Environmental Protection Agency transition team, Trump selected Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to run EPA. And yet, conservatives cannot afford to withdraw from the fight and simply assume things will continue to go their way after Inauguration Day.
In this article, Tom Harris explains why this is so – and why Republicans and all who care about working class Americans must get behind the EPA Administrator nominee.
Conservatives must strongly support Trump on climate change
And on his EPA, Interior and other environmental nominations – and their policy decisions
Tom Harris
President-elect Donald Trump’s opposition to the global warming alarm is a refreshing change from the Obama administration’s naïve and hugely expensive crusade to lead the world to ‘save the climate.â€
Not only has Trump been right on the money in his descriptions of the sub-prime science underlying the scare. He also clearly understands that there is little chance the developing world, the source of most of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions, will follow the US lead anyway, as it strives to lift billions out of poverty. These nations don’t even have to. There is an "out†clause for developing countries in the United Nations treaty on which the Paris Agreement is based.
Trump has started out well. First, he appointed Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and chair of the Cooler Heads Coalition, to head up the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team.
As one of the ‘climate criminals’ targeted by activists in wanted posters across Paris during the December 2015 UN climate conference, Ebell is no stranger to controversy. He has faced up to aggressive global warming campaigners for years on television and radio, in newspapers and public presentations, and in his advocacy for solid science and affordable, plentiful, reliable energy.
Next, Trump selected Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to run the EPA. Like Ebell, Pruitt is a climate realist. He wrote in the National Review in May of this year, "Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind. That debate should be encouraged – in classrooms, public forums and the halls of Congress. It should not be silenced with threats of prosecution. Dissent is not a crime.â€
Climate activists are outraged that such people will now have significant influence over America’s, and indeed the world’s climate, environment and energy policies. Craig Rucker, Executive Director of the Washington DC-based Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, sums up the reaction to Trump’s appointments: "The sheer panic and harsh criticism emanating from the Left, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, only validates that he must be ‘saying and doing all the right things.’’â€
Despite listening to people from across the political spectrum on these issues, even meeting with former Vice-President Al Gore on Tuesday, it seems unlikely that Trump will change his mind on climate change. Yet, conservatives cannot afford to withdraw from the fight and simply assume that things will continue to go their way after Inauguration Day.
After all, Trump has not been a consistent opponent of global warming hysteria over the years. He was a registered Democrat from 2001 to 2008, and a major donor to the Clinton Foundation, which identifies climate change as its first "issue area.â€
In 2009, Trump, along with Ivanka, Donald Junior and Eric Trump, signed an open letter to President Obama and Congress supporting "measures to control climate change,†even though doing so is a physical impossibility. The letter, published in the New York Times December 6, 2009, implored:
https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/nyt.jpg?w=1320&h=2366
"Please don’t postpone the Earth. If we fail to act now, it is scientifically irrefutable that there will be catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet.â€
So, like former Canadian prime Minister Stephen Harper, who campaigned for office as a climate skeptic, but changed sides after being elected, Trump could end up again supporting climate alarmism if realists don’t strongly support his current policies … and hold his feet to the fire if he waivers.
Already, climate activists and their allies in the scientific community are working hard to change Trump’s mind on global warming:
* November 17: An open letter signed by thousands of women scientists was released. They claimed to fear that "scientific progress and momentum in tackling our biggest challenges, including staving off the worst impacts of climate change, will be severely hindered under this next U.S. administration. Our planet cannot afford to lose any time.â€
Yet, the 2013 report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) http://www.climatechangereconsidered.org/ cited hundreds of research papers published in leading science journals, demonstrating that today’s climate change is nothing to fear. In particular, they concluded that "neither the rate nor magnitude of the reported late twentieth century surface warming (1979–2000) lies outside normal natural variability, nor was it in any way unusual compared to earlier episodes in Earth’s climatic history.â€
Current climate change is so slow – 1.5 degrees between 1880 and 2012, according to the United Nations – that we have plenty of time to properly consider alternative points of view on this complex topic.
* November 30: The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released an open letter it had coordinated to Trump and Congress. The 2,300 scientist endorsers worried that, without adequate research resources, "we will be less prepared to limit the impacts of increasing extreme weather.â€
This too is misleading. As the NIPCC report explained: "The commonly held perception that twentieth century warming was accompanied by an increase in extreme weather events is a misconception fostered by excessive media attention, and has no basis in facts.â€
* December 6: Over 800 energy and earth science researchers signed another open letter to Trump, urging him to "take immediate and sustained action against human-caused climate change.â€
The letter is riddled with mistakes. Besides the UCS extreme weather blunder, they erroneously labelled plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide as "carbon pollution.†They claim the science backing the scare is "unequivocal,†a claim that is irrational in any scientific endeavor and especially one this immature.
They said that "virtually all climate scientists†disagree with Trump, an assertion easily disproved by the NIPCC reports; dozens of open letters and other documents endorsed by leading climate experts; former space scientists, engineers and astronauts with The Right Climate Stuff group http://www.therightclimatestuff.com/; and a statement by 31,487 American scientists expressing extreme doubt about manmade climate cataclysms. http://www.petitionproject.org/
Backing all this up is the continuous global warming drumbeat from mainstream media. The National Geographic Society provided a good example in "The Global Dangers of Trump’s Climate Denial,†in which it erroneously claimed that "Trump’s stance on climate change runs counter to physical evidence [and] near-universal scientific consensus....â€
To counter such reporting, Trump must promote solid science to justify his position. In particular, the president-elect must be convinced to make full use of reports such as those of the NIPCC to demonstrate that much of what activists say about climate change is simply wrong.
Otherwise, history may repeat itself – and like Harper and both President Bushes, Trump may yield to the aggressive climate movement. That would be a disaster for the United States, and indeed for all nations that rely on a prosperous America for freedom.
Republicans ... and what is left of moderate Democrats who care about working class Americans ... must get behind EPA Administrator nominee Scott Pruitt. He is truly a leader who has the character, wisdom, legal skills and understanding to lead the EPA in a new, more constructive direction.
____________
Tom Harris is executive director of the Ottawa, Canada-based International Climate Science Coalition.
Not only has President-elect Donald Trump been right on the money in describing the sub-prime science underlying the "dangerous manmade climate change†scare. Mr. Trump clearly understands that there is little chance the developing world, the source of most of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions, will follow the US lead anyway, as it strives to lift billions out of poverty.
To top it off, after appointing Myron Ebell to head the Environmental Protection Agency transition team, Trump selected Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to run EPA. And yet, conservatives cannot afford to withdraw from the fight and simply assume things will continue to go their way after Inauguration Day.
In this article, Tom Harris explains why this is so – and why Republicans and all who care about working class Americans must get behind the EPA Administrator nominee.
Conservatives must strongly support Trump on climate change
And on his EPA, Interior and other environmental nominations – and their policy decisions
Tom Harris
President-elect Donald Trump’s opposition to the global warming alarm is a refreshing change from the Obama administration’s naïve and hugely expensive crusade to lead the world to ‘save the climate.â€
Not only has Trump been right on the money in his descriptions of the sub-prime science underlying the scare. He also clearly understands that there is little chance the developing world, the source of most of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions, will follow the US lead anyway, as it strives to lift billions out of poverty. These nations don’t even have to. There is an "out†clause for developing countries in the United Nations treaty on which the Paris Agreement is based.
Trump has started out well. First, he appointed Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and chair of the Cooler Heads Coalition, to head up the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team.
As one of the ‘climate criminals’ targeted by activists in wanted posters across Paris during the December 2015 UN climate conference, Ebell is no stranger to controversy. He has faced up to aggressive global warming campaigners for years on television and radio, in newspapers and public presentations, and in his advocacy for solid science and affordable, plentiful, reliable energy.
Next, Trump selected Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to run the EPA. Like Ebell, Pruitt is a climate realist. He wrote in the National Review in May of this year, "Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind. That debate should be encouraged – in classrooms, public forums and the halls of Congress. It should not be silenced with threats of prosecution. Dissent is not a crime.â€
Climate activists are outraged that such people will now have significant influence over America’s, and indeed the world’s climate, environment and energy policies. Craig Rucker, Executive Director of the Washington DC-based Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, sums up the reaction to Trump’s appointments: "The sheer panic and harsh criticism emanating from the Left, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, only validates that he must be ‘saying and doing all the right things.’’â€
Despite listening to people from across the political spectrum on these issues, even meeting with former Vice-President Al Gore on Tuesday, it seems unlikely that Trump will change his mind on climate change. Yet, conservatives cannot afford to withdraw from the fight and simply assume that things will continue to go their way after Inauguration Day.
After all, Trump has not been a consistent opponent of global warming hysteria over the years. He was a registered Democrat from 2001 to 2008, and a major donor to the Clinton Foundation, which identifies climate change as its first "issue area.â€
In 2009, Trump, along with Ivanka, Donald Junior and Eric Trump, signed an open letter to President Obama and Congress supporting "measures to control climate change,†even though doing so is a physical impossibility. The letter, published in the New York Times December 6, 2009, implored:
https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/nyt.jpg?w=1320&h=2366
"Please don’t postpone the Earth. If we fail to act now, it is scientifically irrefutable that there will be catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet.â€
So, like former Canadian prime Minister Stephen Harper, who campaigned for office as a climate skeptic, but changed sides after being elected, Trump could end up again supporting climate alarmism if realists don’t strongly support his current policies … and hold his feet to the fire if he waivers.
Already, climate activists and their allies in the scientific community are working hard to change Trump’s mind on global warming:
* November 17: An open letter signed by thousands of women scientists was released. They claimed to fear that "scientific progress and momentum in tackling our biggest challenges, including staving off the worst impacts of climate change, will be severely hindered under this next U.S. administration. Our planet cannot afford to lose any time.â€
Yet, the 2013 report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) http://www.climatechangereconsidered.org/ cited hundreds of research papers published in leading science journals, demonstrating that today’s climate change is nothing to fear. In particular, they concluded that "neither the rate nor magnitude of the reported late twentieth century surface warming (1979–2000) lies outside normal natural variability, nor was it in any way unusual compared to earlier episodes in Earth’s climatic history.â€
Current climate change is so slow – 1.5 degrees between 1880 and 2012, according to the United Nations – that we have plenty of time to properly consider alternative points of view on this complex topic.
* November 30: The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released an open letter it had coordinated to Trump and Congress. The 2,300 scientist endorsers worried that, without adequate research resources, "we will be less prepared to limit the impacts of increasing extreme weather.â€
This too is misleading. As the NIPCC report explained: "The commonly held perception that twentieth century warming was accompanied by an increase in extreme weather events is a misconception fostered by excessive media attention, and has no basis in facts.â€
* December 6: Over 800 energy and earth science researchers signed another open letter to Trump, urging him to "take immediate and sustained action against human-caused climate change.â€
The letter is riddled with mistakes. Besides the UCS extreme weather blunder, they erroneously labelled plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide as "carbon pollution.†They claim the science backing the scare is "unequivocal,†a claim that is irrational in any scientific endeavor and especially one this immature.
They said that "virtually all climate scientists†disagree with Trump, an assertion easily disproved by the NIPCC reports; dozens of open letters and other documents endorsed by leading climate experts; former space scientists, engineers and astronauts with The Right Climate Stuff group http://www.therightclimatestuff.com/; and a statement by 31,487 American scientists expressing extreme doubt about manmade climate cataclysms. http://www.petitionproject.org/
Backing all this up is the continuous global warming drumbeat from mainstream media. The National Geographic Society provided a good example in "The Global Dangers of Trump’s Climate Denial,†in which it erroneously claimed that "Trump’s stance on climate change runs counter to physical evidence [and] near-universal scientific consensus....â€
To counter such reporting, Trump must promote solid science to justify his position. In particular, the president-elect must be convinced to make full use of reports such as those of the NIPCC to demonstrate that much of what activists say about climate change is simply wrong.
Otherwise, history may repeat itself – and like Harper and both President Bushes, Trump may yield to the aggressive climate movement. That would be a disaster for the United States, and indeed for all nations that rely on a prosperous America for freedom.
Republicans ... and what is left of moderate Democrats who care about working class Americans ... must get behind EPA Administrator nominee Scott Pruitt. He is truly a leader who has the character, wisdom, legal skills and understanding to lead the EPA in a new, more constructive direction.
____________
Tom Harris is executive director of the Ottawa, Canada-based International Climate Science Coalition.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
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Carboniferous Spaghetti Western
Timothy Birdnow
Publicly funded Global Warming researchers have made a serious discovery; spaghetti with meat increases the dangers of climate change!
Here is the story:
"Fight global warming by reducing CO2 emissions from your spaghetti bolognaise! This is the recommendation of two academics associated with Melbourne’s RMIT University whohave found that the farm-to-fork "Global Warming Potential†(GWP) of pasta with meat sauce can be significantly reduced by eliminating beef and substituting kangaroo. They recommend that for an even greater impact on global heat, rising seas, coral bleaching, tempests, bushfires and ocean acidification, you should dispense with the kangaroo too, and make your spagbol topping with lentils and kidney beans.
The Journal of Cleaner Production study, reprised at The Conversation, is by RMIT Principal Research Fellow Karli Verghese and Stephen Clune, senior lecturer in sustainable design, Lancaster University and formerly an RMIT Research Fellow. The authors say, "We hope that chefs, caterers and everyday foodies will use this information to cook meals
without cooking the planet.â€
End excerpt.
First, the U.S. still has 'roo on the endangered species list and does not allow the importation of kangaroo meat, so I doubt I'll be switching from beef to marsupial anytime soon. Granted, it should be possible to substitute deer meat, so Bambi may wind up joining his mother as a head on a wall and the rest in a cook pot, but somehow I suspect the animal rights people won't be pleased with that outcome.
Also, it takes 704 gallons of water to produce one pound of lentils, so that idea isn't going to be the best either. But the real showstopper for these likely halitosis-laden researchers is the onion:
"The true hero of RMIT’s spaghetti bolognaise-led crusade against global warming is not Skippy the Kangaroo but Oscar the Onion. The carbon footprint of onions, say the researchers, is so low it would take 50 medium onions (5.8kg) to generate 1kg of greenhouse gases. By contrast, a mere 44gm of premium beef spagbol topping generates a similar 1kg carbon footprint.
The authors, who are clearly not silly, stop short of recommending 50 medium onions for dinner. "Due to different culinary and dietary requirements,†they explain, "it is hard to argue that you can replace beef with onions.†(Insert flatulence jokes here.) A commenter, possibly a Scot, remarks that he would much rather eat 2.6kg of oats than 5.8kg of onions for the same greenhouse emissions.
From the paper, we discover that the five cloves of garlic in a spagbol recipe generate a mere 10 grams of harmful emissions, and the grated zucchini only 20 grams. There seems no need for either the Turnbull federal or Andrews state government to include garlic and zucchini emissions in their CO2 reduction targets. Nor do garlic and zucchini emissions bulk large in the global annual emissions tally of 42 billion tonnes."
End excerpt.
No doubt the authors are looking at human population growth as well, which is likely to decline as our diet becomes ever richer in garlic and onion and deficient in amore'.
Actually, there is quite a bit of feeding going on here, and not onions or lentils or kangaroo; these shysters are feeding at the public trough, feeding well, and likewise feeding us a lot of male beef excrement.
Ciao!
Hat tip: Helen Dyer
Publicly funded Global Warming researchers have made a serious discovery; spaghetti with meat increases the dangers of climate change!
Here is the story:
"Fight global warming by reducing CO2 emissions from your spaghetti bolognaise! This is the recommendation of two academics associated with Melbourne’s RMIT University whohave found that the farm-to-fork "Global Warming Potential†(GWP) of pasta with meat sauce can be significantly reduced by eliminating beef and substituting kangaroo. They recommend that for an even greater impact on global heat, rising seas, coral bleaching, tempests, bushfires and ocean acidification, you should dispense with the kangaroo too, and make your spagbol topping with lentils and kidney beans.
The Journal of Cleaner Production study, reprised at The Conversation, is by RMIT Principal Research Fellow Karli Verghese and Stephen Clune, senior lecturer in sustainable design, Lancaster University and formerly an RMIT Research Fellow. The authors say, "We hope that chefs, caterers and everyday foodies will use this information to cook meals
without cooking the planet.â€
End excerpt.
First, the U.S. still has 'roo on the endangered species list and does not allow the importation of kangaroo meat, so I doubt I'll be switching from beef to marsupial anytime soon. Granted, it should be possible to substitute deer meat, so Bambi may wind up joining his mother as a head on a wall and the rest in a cook pot, but somehow I suspect the animal rights people won't be pleased with that outcome.
Also, it takes 704 gallons of water to produce one pound of lentils, so that idea isn't going to be the best either. But the real showstopper for these likely halitosis-laden researchers is the onion:
"The true hero of RMIT’s spaghetti bolognaise-led crusade against global warming is not Skippy the Kangaroo but Oscar the Onion. The carbon footprint of onions, say the researchers, is so low it would take 50 medium onions (5.8kg) to generate 1kg of greenhouse gases. By contrast, a mere 44gm of premium beef spagbol topping generates a similar 1kg carbon footprint.
The authors, who are clearly not silly, stop short of recommending 50 medium onions for dinner. "Due to different culinary and dietary requirements,†they explain, "it is hard to argue that you can replace beef with onions.†(Insert flatulence jokes here.) A commenter, possibly a Scot, remarks that he would much rather eat 2.6kg of oats than 5.8kg of onions for the same greenhouse emissions.
From the paper, we discover that the five cloves of garlic in a spagbol recipe generate a mere 10 grams of harmful emissions, and the grated zucchini only 20 grams. There seems no need for either the Turnbull federal or Andrews state government to include garlic and zucchini emissions in their CO2 reduction targets. Nor do garlic and zucchini emissions bulk large in the global annual emissions tally of 42 billion tonnes."
End excerpt.
No doubt the authors are looking at human population growth as well, which is likely to decline as our diet becomes ever richer in garlic and onion and deficient in amore'.
Actually, there is quite a bit of feeding going on here, and not onions or lentils or kangaroo; these shysters are feeding at the public trough, feeding well, and likewise feeding us a lot of male beef excrement.
Ciao!
Hat tip: Helen Dyer
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:19 AM
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Post contains 554 words, total size 4 kb.
CERN Shows Cosmic Rays Drive Cloud Formation
Timothy Birdnow
Heinrich Svensmark theorized that a period of intense solar activity - such as the Grand Solar Maximum of the latter part of the last century - sweeps away cosmic rays and thus reduces planetary cloud cover. Cloud cover increases the Earth's albedo and thus cools the planet. His theory was that an intense period of solar activity would see a rise in the solar wind and a resulting dearth of clouds, thus warming the planet. Experiments have since proven him correct.
Now CERN reiterates this claim.
From a Cern press release:
"n the latest work, published in Science, researchers built a global model of aerosol formation using CLOUD-measured nucleation rates involving sulphuric acid, ammonia, ions and organic compounds. Although sulphuric acid has long been known to be important for nucleation, the results show for the first time that observed concentrations of particles throughout the atmosphere can be explained only if additional molecules - organic compounds or ammonia - participate in nucleation. The results also show that ionisation of the atmosphere by cosmic rays accounts for nearly one-third of all particles formed, although small changes in cosmic rays over the solar cycle do not affect aerosols enough to influence today’s polluted climate significantly."
End excerpt.
The last part will be used by the Global Warming crowd to dismiss the finding as significant, but notice the actual wording OVER THE SOLAR CYCLE. That is not a discussion of long term changes, but rather changes within a solar cycle itself. In other words, moving from the peak of a given cycle to the ends does not materially effect the overall cloud cover. But changes in the solar cycles can make a difference.
Chalk another one up for "deniar" science!
Heinrich Svensmark theorized that a period of intense solar activity - such as the Grand Solar Maximum of the latter part of the last century - sweeps away cosmic rays and thus reduces planetary cloud cover. Cloud cover increases the Earth's albedo and thus cools the planet. His theory was that an intense period of solar activity would see a rise in the solar wind and a resulting dearth of clouds, thus warming the planet. Experiments have since proven him correct.
Now CERN reiterates this claim.
From a Cern press release:
"n the latest work, published in Science, researchers built a global model of aerosol formation using CLOUD-measured nucleation rates involving sulphuric acid, ammonia, ions and organic compounds. Although sulphuric acid has long been known to be important for nucleation, the results show for the first time that observed concentrations of particles throughout the atmosphere can be explained only if additional molecules - organic compounds or ammonia - participate in nucleation. The results also show that ionisation of the atmosphere by cosmic rays accounts for nearly one-third of all particles formed, although small changes in cosmic rays over the solar cycle do not affect aerosols enough to influence today’s polluted climate significantly."
End excerpt.
The last part will be used by the Global Warming crowd to dismiss the finding as significant, but notice the actual wording OVER THE SOLAR CYCLE. That is not a discussion of long term changes, but rather changes within a solar cycle itself. In other words, moving from the peak of a given cycle to the ends does not materially effect the overall cloud cover. But changes in the solar cycles can make a difference.
Chalk another one up for "deniar" science!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
07:49 AM
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December 09, 2016
Dutch Oven for Wilders
Dana Mathewson
How the Dutch have declined! Score one for the left!
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/12/09/prime-minister-candidate-wilders-guilty-hate-speech-dutch-court-rules.html
A Dutch court convicted populist lawmaker Geert Wilders -- who is running to be prime minister -- of hate speech Friday, at the end of a trial he branded a politically motivated "charade" that endangered freedom of speech.
How the Dutch have declined! Score one for the left!
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/12/09/prime-minister-candidate-wilders-guilty-hate-speech-dutch-court-rules.html
A Dutch court convicted populist lawmaker Geert Wilders -- who is running to be prime minister -- of hate speech Friday, at the end of a trial he branded a politically motivated "charade" that endangered freedom of speech.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:27 PM
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