Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Thousands of peer reviewed scientific papers support skepticism of climate alarmism

A favorite ploy of climate alarmists is to deny the existence of "peer-reviewed" science supporting views skeptical of climate alarmism.

A good example of this is a Facebook post by a TV Weatherman yelling at skeptics telling them to "put-up-or-shut-up".  Watts Up With That "put-up" - pointing to thousands of peer reviewed scientific papers supporting the skeptical viewpoint.




Sunday, May 21, 2017

The "Trust Gap", "social licence" and the rule of law

Giant PR firm, Edelman, does a global annual survey to gauge of the "trust" the public has in its institutions: 1) Government 2) Business 3) Media, and 4) NGOs.

The people surveyed are categorized into three groups:
1) Informed Public 2) General On-line Population, and 3) Mass Population (all population excluding Informed Public)

The results are published in the "Edelman Trust Baraometer".

2016 Edelman Trust Barometer  Widening Trust Gap
2017 Edelman Trust Barometer   An Implosion in Trust! (Brexit, Trump, immigration/refugee crisis?)

Interesting, considering recent events but one does wonder about the validity of the results as a measure of "trust". If it isn't trust that's actually being measured, what is it? It's worth reading this bit of skepticism: "Can You Trust The Data On Trust?"

The surveys show that the "Informed Public", which includes the elites that control the four institutions, have much higher "trust" in those institution than the general public (ie the definition of the "trust gap"). Hardly a surprising result.

With the advent of Internet, the general public is in a position to be better informed and less subject to control of the message by the elites (especially the legacy MSM).  A widening "trust gap" might be a natural consequence of this.  However, a potentially serious downside is a diminishing respect for the rule of law and the constitution.  For example, certain of the elites (Justin Trudeau for one) have been pushing the fuzzy notion of "social license" ("governments issue permits, communities grant permission").  In the case of pipeline approvals this suggests that decisions by lawfully appointed and mandated regulatory bodies (like the NEB) are subject to being overruled by vocal interest groups ("communities") who have no legal status. Mob rule is "permitted" to supplant the rule of law.  Not good!

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Climate alarmists hostile to facts that contradict alarmist exaggerations and lies

And, of course, hostile to the messenger of those facts:
The Seattle Times ran a hysterical story at the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle. Cliff Mass, professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Washington and no climate change skeptic, demolished the Times story in a strongly-worded blog post. 
But perhaps more importantly, he goes on to describe the kind of pressure to which he is subjected to not post such corrections because of the ammunition it gives to “deniers”. It is an excellent exposition on the corruption of the scientific method that is rampant in climate science — not just the suppression of dissent, but the suppression of every small correction of the most exaggerated claims.

The "preening silliness" of the left's obsession with "cultural appropriation"

George Will:
... The hysteria du jour, on campuses and elsewhere, against “appropriation” illustrates progressivism’s descent into authoritarianism leavened by philistinism. This “preening silliness” — the phrase is from the Federalist’s David Marcus — is by people oblivious to the fact that, as Marcus says, “culture blending is central to the development of, well, everything.”
... Listening to Radio Luxembourg late one night, teenaged Keith Richards heard “Heartbreak Hotel,” and “when I woke up the next day I was a different guy.” Bob Dylan, a freewheeling cultural appropriator himself, said, “Hearing Elvis for the first time was like busting out of jail.” Those who would wall off cultures from “outsiders” are would-be wardens. 

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Canadian taxpayers' buy Broadway tickets for corporate FatCats

The Trudeau government spent $30K in taxpayers money giving out free tickets to a Broadway Play ...Come From Away ... Not only were tickets given to foreign diplomats – including reps from the United Nations, Qatar, and Kuwait – but wealthy bankers were also given tickets at taxpayers expense...
... the opposition grilled Freeland [who] had no good answers:
As an aside, unlike Spenser Fernando, I DO have a problem with the theme of the musical.  It strikes me as cringe-worthy self-regard for Canadians to present a play in America, telling Americans how wonderful we were in their time of tragically obvious need [and, our government promoting the show, at taxpayers' expense, just compounds the problem].  Now, if Americans had created such a play to thank Canadians, that would have been something else.


Sunday, May 7, 2017

Climate alarmism - Historical overview, inconsitencies and evidence of fraud

Climate skeptic Tony Heller (aka Steven Goddard) at the 34th Annual Meeting of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, on July 9, 2016 presents an overview  of the history of climate alarmism and its media coverage, inconsistencies between alarmist claims and the climate data record and evidence for fraudulent manipulation and altering of the record by NASA, NOAA and others. It's a rambling presentation covering, back and forth, the past century+ but leaves the definite impression that something is seriously amiss about the current climate alarmist narrative.



More:

Heller gave a similar presentation at a Washington State Senate hearing February 2017.  Some senators (Dems) are skeptical of Heller's conclusions but it is interesting that Washington State is at least willing to hear from skeptics like Heller and Don Easterbrook (previous post).

Data manipulation and false data,  Data Integrity


Saturday, May 6, 2017

A legendary climate change presentation

Dr. Don Easterbrook's presentation to a Washington State Senate hearing in March of 2013 is an excellent summation of why we should be very skeptical of global warming alarmism:


Monday, May 1, 2017

Willis Eschenbach

Willis Eschenbach is a self-taught amateur scientist well known for his skeptical posts on climate change at Watts Up With That. Thanks to the alarmist propagandists at DeSmogBlog, whose mission it is, in part, to "debunk" climate "deniers", I came across this video of Willis's presentation at ICCC7. He talks about his research on "species extinction" and offers some interesting insights into the role of DNA and how it might work in helping species to survive radical changes in the environment (eg. surviving through multiple ice ages):



Far from "debunking" Mr. Eschenbach the video leaves one admiring him even more for his wit and natural intelligence.