by Robert M. Traxler
The greatest threat to our nation’s survival is “Climate Change,” according to every progressive socialist in the United States and Western Europe. Let’s look at the climate disasters that the “sky is falling” folks have preached as gospel.
Global cooling: an end of the world, an undeniable disaster that came and went. No explanation as to why they were wrong, no apologies, no after-action review of what happened. Polar ice was going to expand and suck the water from the oceans. North American farmland was going to be a useless, frozen solid. When it did not happen, the good folks just moved onto the next climate crisis.
The hole in the ozone layer: we all were going to die because of the loss of ozone that reduced the ultraviolet light from the sun. The seas would stop producing oxygen and all green oxygen-producing flora would burn up and die. The use of freon was the culprit, so we and western Europe banned freon, but its use has increased on most of the Earth’s surface. Interesting that when used in the African, Asian, and South American continents it is harmless? In western Europe and north America, it will end life as we know it.
Acid rain: Google it and we find no explanation as to why we are not all starved to death or fried to a crisp as predicted. The acid rain would kill off all green vegetation, decades ago.
Global warming: Vice president Albert Arnold Gore Jr. told us it was an “undeniable truth” that the east coast and west coast of our nation would be underwater as the ice would melt at the poles as of 15 years ago. Vice President Gore received a Nobel Peace prize, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and the Webby award for his book “An Inconvenient Truth,” but he was just plain wrong?
No one ever bothers to say why all life on earth did not end as guaranteed, going on four times now in the past 50 years. Now to be fair, some people will tell us that the hole in the ozone layer closed because we banned the use of fluorocarbons. We did, but the chemical blamed on opening the whole, freon, is used more today than before under a new name in nations outside of North America and Western Europe? But who cares? The settled science has moved on to a new payday.
Time after time this column has asked the question: Will we all be dead in 2030 as guaranteed by the irrefutable science of just three short years ago? The science was certain that unless we cut carbon emissions by 5% per year, every year worldwide, the end of all life is a 100% certainty, and indeed, settled, undeniable science. The world has not cut carbon emissions by 5%, but increased them every year. North America and Western Europe have cut carbon by a small amount, but China, India, Vietnam, North Korea, Africa, and other areas have increased it, by twice the amount that has been cut.
Undaunted, the American socialist movement is passing out awards and decorations to themselves for cutting carbon. They have championed the outsourcing of our pollution to the third world and consider themselves heroic for causing the deaths of millions of poor people in China and elsewhere on the Asian subcontinent. Folks, you can’t make this stuff up.
The progressives are known for calling people who do not agree with them conspiracy theorists; but the greatest conspiracy known to mankind, or humankind, is the list of climate disasters du jour supposedly ending the world.
Are we dead in seven years, on an unstoppable slide to the end in 2030, or not? Ever noticed how the progressive movement is moving seamlessly from 2030 (now that it is near to 2030) to 2050 for the end of the world? No explanation, just the same rhetoric with the end-of-all-life date changed. This year’s budget has 18 billion dollars to fight climate change and advance “environmental justice,” whatever the heck that is.
If you have seen a decent explanation of why life still exists, why we are not all dead and why a reasonable and prudent person should believe the climate “chicken littles,” please let those of us who do not blindly follow the pied piper of politically correct group think know what it is.
My opinion.
As Kevin McCarthy’s candidacy for speaker of the House of Representatives is stalled, The recently retired U.S. Representative, Republican Fred Upton is being floated as a potential “compromise” U.S. House Speaker. Upton has been one of the atomic lobby’s best friends in Congress.
Congressman Upton, who represented Michigan’s 6 th District which includes Pallisades nuclear plant, has earned his place as
one of the top cheerleaders for the nuclear power industry. Over the years, Upton has sponsored over a billion dollars in nuclear subsidies. As chair of the energy committee he led the charge to dump high-level radioactive wastes on Native American land in Nevada. Upton consistently supported oil and coal producing projects, while opposing clean energy proposals. After years of foot-dragging he stopped opposing clean up of the Kalamzoo river whose stench from Industrial waste was the target of constituents. Upton has long done the nuclear and fossil fuel establishment’s dirty work on Capitol Hill.
January 6 is the second anniversary of the insurrectionists attacking the Capital police, gained entrance to the US Capital in an attempt to stop the certification of the Electoral College vote formalizing that former VP Biden was the winner of November 2020 election.
The protest and invasion of the Capitol was done at the behest of now former President Trump, who spoke to the Stop the Steal rally at the Ellipse hours before the Capital was breached.
Since then Army Bob Traxler has been commenting on everything under the sun, except the insurrectionists and those members of Congress, including Bill Huizenga who is one of the GOP caucus members who voted No on certifying the Electoral College vote declaring the current President the winner.
Rave on, Army Bob. Rave on about anything except the attempted coup perpetuated by Donald J Trump to overturn portions of the Constitution that wouldn’t allow him to lose an election and stay in the White House.
Mr. Couchman,
Sir,
I will be happy to oblige you, just as soon as you explain just how it is irrefutable/ undeniable/settled science that we are all dead in 2030 as you have stated.
Couch,
My opinion, Funny stuff Amigo. Keep up the profound entertainment. Maybe those folks were simply reenacting what was done across the country a few years back. Remember Portland or even Grand Rapids. Police assaulted, buildings burned and on and on. All in the name of alleged justice. Just my opinion Amigo.
The forces at work in the universe and our solar system dynamically impacting the earth over time are so huge that only our arrogance as a species makes us think we have some effect on it.
Any impact is miniscule and essentially unnoticed by the the earth and universe as a whole. We are sitting ducks for the next super-volcanic eruption or cosmic event that sends an asteroid into the earth.
We need to treat the earth nice in the little time she gives us. However, if we truly cared about ourselves, with the knowledge we have we would be thinking centuries ahead, globally focused on our advancement as a species so that we can find out if it is even possible to populate other worlds. Ultimately humanity can’t stay here. If some of the things happen to the earth that have happened before (and they eventually will), humanity may not survive at all.
How much carbon would be saved if 95% of the military conflicts on the planet never happened? Humanity will never be truly free to live up to its potential until those among us that want to control everything that other people do, say and think are are no longer a part of our world.
Mr. Traxler,
I believe I’ve commented before about this Johnny-One-Note theme of yours, including my own belief that the worst end-of-the-world offenders, whose behavior isn’t about to change in the near future, lie far overseas.
So why not let go of this endless and fruitless tirade and talk about something that voters might actually be able to do something about with their votes?
Why not talk about the insurrection, the anniversary of which we note today, and those criminals within the government, past and present, who planned, goaded, and failed to end this attack against our very system of government?
Why not talk about this circus of Republicans unfolding live on television regarding the election of a House Speaker, who, if successful as it appears after fourteen embarrassing and humiliating votes, will not be effective in uniting his party?
Why not write about uniting your beloved Republican Party that has done little more than obstruct positive change since Obama was first elected?
Why not encourage your fellows to unite behind true patriotism in actual service to the citizens who elected them to SERVE the public?
We do face real problems of excessive, wasteful, misguided spending of tax dollars. We do face the corruption that has come with recognizing corporations as individuals who can buy the corruptible congress people who are there more to enrich themselves than the working poor of the country.
The sad, black humor of it all is that we, as the global stewards of the planet, have already doomed the earth. When the ultimate demise will happen is up for grabs, but your and my generation don’t seem to care, and what we have left our children and grandchildren isn’t a rosy picture.
So what do we do? We look toward next usurping the Moon, then Mars, and then on into other galaxies to perpetuate homo sapiens who will move on like some alien plague of locusts of our own making, from a Twilight Zone, or Star Trek episode…name you apocalyptic story.
Give us something new, Mr. Traxler. Something we can really sink our readers’ teeth into, instead of the same old song.
Very well said Mrs Mandeville, but I’m pretty sure there’s nobody home to turn off the broken record. We’ve witnessed his attempt when he couldn’t even make it through his Harley Davidson story, and then had to comment about growing old, yeah we got that, and along with growing old is cognitive decline.
My opinion
FRWF
Interesting that you can not refute the facts so you attack the authors age. So are you referring to our President with cognitive decline?
Mr. Mandaville,
Wow, a homo sapiens plague of locusts, moving into other galaxies? The environmental radicals will adore you, they feel humanity is a virus a parasite infecting Mother Earth.
The reply to your comment will be in next weeks column.
Wishing you the all best with your cancer treatments stay strong, you got this.
Thanks for the comment.
Not sure black humor is a politically correct statement in the 21st century. Food for thought….just my opinon.
We don’t have to look beyond Mar a Lago to find our own Pied Piper, leading his band of easily influenced know nothings. To stay with the mixed metaphor, now, in part due to the ex-president’s machinations, we now have Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. After only 15 rounds of votes. He will combat the “falling sky” by launching investigations of Hunter Biden’s laptop. The republicans put on quite a show for us all. Have they no shame?
Mr. Basura,
Sir,
Thanks for the comment.
So, are we all dead in 2030 or not? Is the science settled and undeniable or not? Can men give birth or not? Are African American Republicans all white supremacists or not? Is Florida underwater or not? Is the Keystone pipeline a bigger threat to our security and the environment than shipping crude half way around the world by super tanker or not? Do you truly believe 70 million Americans know nothing? Was Capitol Hill Police Officer Brian Sicknick beat to death on January 6th with a fire extinguisher as the articles of impeachment charged, or not? Was President Trump a paid Russian agent as the Democrats stated, did they have 100% proof as the Speaker of the House said, or not? Talk about no shame.
Ask yourself why Robert Hunter Biden was paid 5 million dollars to consult with a Russian firm? Why the wife of Moscow’s Mayor gave him a new luxury auto? Why he received over $680,000. plus expenses, from a firm in the Ukraine to attend two short meetings? Why he was paid millions by the Chinese? Why are the names of the people who purchased his paintings for millions of dollars a national secret? Money laundering? Did Mr. Robert Hunter Biden, a drug addict, lie on the form to purchase a firearm illegally or not? Did the Secret Service destroy evidence of the purchase or not? The Democrats investigated President Trump and his entire family for years; was the sky falling then?
The progressive/socialists set the standards for congressional investigations low; they were warned that what goes around comes around.
Thanks again for the comment.
Sir,
My opinion you can show some folks facts and reality but they will never learn. Some have the eyes to see, but will not open them. It’s kinda like a security blanket, hard to come out. Others are compromised due to both prescription and illicit drugs.
My opinion, my choice.
So we just witnessed the keystone pipeline leak and spilled over a half a million gallons of black gold on to us soil and who knows how much wildlife will be killed from this disaster. On January 5th on found a night crawler laying in my yard I thought hmm I guess I can use this for ice fishing, oh what it looks like there’s not going to be a ice fishing season why is that AB can you explain it? No I can’t say 2030 will be the end of of us all ,but when I’ve seen obviously changes to our environment it’s pretty clear something has changed and I’ve also seen many dates for longer periods of carbon emissions cut , not just 2030. So maybe we’re not all going to perish in 2030 but there definitely has been a lot of lives loss do to climate change.
So here’s a few samples. And look forward to your same old options next week.
“William Clay didn’t realize He died in Buffalo on his 56th birthday, Christmas Eve, and was found frozen to death about a mile from his house, attempting to walk home from the store.
While Buffalo is famous for the intensity of its winter storms, this appears to be worse than anything in recorded history both there and across much of the rest of the nation. It seems Biblical: in Texas, bats are freezing and falling from trees; in Florida cold-stunned iguanas are raining down from palm trees onto unsuspecting pedestrians.
Fossil fuel industry barons win no matter what. They all know accountability for corporate executive decision-making is nonexistent in today’s America,
When extreme weather hits the US — be it extreme heat in the summer or extreme cold in the winter — more of their product is burned to create electricity and heating/cooling, earning them more profits.
When weather is “normal” they just go back to bribing climate science deniers and Republican politicians across the nation to block any action to hold them accountable for 60 years of intentional lies.
Last Friday, as the most recent bomb cyclone was blasting much of America, 53.7% of the nation was covered in snow, more than any time since record-keeping began. Casper, Wyoming saw its temperature drop to -42℉, the coldest ever, as similar records going back centuries were shattered across the US. In Denver, for example, temperatures dropped by 47 degrees in a mere 2 hours.
Over 200 million Americans were under winter storm warnings as parts of Texas’ privatized, for-profit power grid failed again, joining a dozen other states with deadly power outages. Dozens of people died.
Predictably, shills for the fossil fuel industry (and the suckers who believe them) were imitating Oklahoma Republican Senator James Inhofe from February 2015 when, as Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee (taking money from the fossil fuel industry and thus dancing to their tune), Inhofe famously threw a snowball on the Senate floor to, pathetically, try to show there’s no global warming.
The twits this past weekend were saying things like, “Love me some global warning.”
So, how does global warming produce record-breaking cold?
It appears to have a lot to do with global warming messing with the Jet Stream and the related walls of wind circulating around northern latitudes that in prior decades and centuries largely kept arctic air over the arctic. Now it’s ending up in our front yards.
Back in 2012, Rutgers’ Dr. Jennifer Francis and the University of Wisconsin’s Stephen Vavrus published a hypothesis to explain the increasingly extreme variations in weather we’re experiencing in the northern hemisphere. While still the subject of scientific debate, their hypothesis was both elegant and easily understood.
As long as the Arctic Ocean was covered with deep, hard ice it produced a permanent and cold plateau of stable-temperature air. That cold air dome, in turn, stabilized the temperature and pressure of the air above it so the circular flow of high-altitude winds around the Arctic — called the normal “polar vortex” — were largely kept in place at those high, northern latitudes.
We had summer and winter, storms and snow, fronts pushed through quickly by the Jet Stream, but extremes like we’ve been experiencing for the past decade were the stuff of science fiction disaster movies.
Extreme weather was kept at bay because the “gradient” or difference in temperatures between the cold arctic polar vortex air and the warmer air from our mid-latitudes produced a “wall” of sorts to keep the cold air over the arctic.
In addition to the polar vortex, there’s another river of air flowing in a circle around the north pole at a different altitude that largely controls our weather. Called the Jet Stream, it pushes along cold and warm air masses, producing the fronts and weather we experience
As MIT climatologist Judah Cohen told Newsweek last week:
“When the polar vortex is in its normal or strong state, there is a strong ribbon or river of air that flows rapidly from west to east…that acts like a barrier that separates cold air to the north over the Arctic and milder air to the south across the mid-latitudes.
“When the circulation around the polar vortex becomes less and less circular in shape, the cold air normally confined to the Arctic can expand southward to the mid-latitudes, including the U.S., Europe and East Asia.”
But two decades ago the ice covering the top of the world, that cap of arctic sea ice, hit a tipping point and began to melt so completely it was replaced by open water, which is both warmer than ice and, being dark, absorbs rather than reflects heat from the sun.
As NASA’s Earth Observatory scientists note:
“[A] pattern of steep Arctic sea ice decline began in 2002.”
The arctic is now warming several times faster than the mid-latitudes, in part because of this “dark water” phenomenon replacing reflective ice and in part as a consequence of the entire planet’s CO2-driven global warming.
As the air above the arctic warms, it reduces the gradient — the difference in temperatures — at the boundaries between the arctic and the mid-latitude air.
When that temperature gradient decreases, so does the strength of the “wall” of the boundary created by arctic air hitting mid-latitude air. As that “wall” which helps hold in place the Jet Stream weakens, the cold air above it can push through, past, or under the Jet Stream. It then ends up in your front yard as -42 temperatures.
It’s also probably why Arctic air covered so much of the US this past week, punching as far south as Texas: air that’s normally confined to the arctic broke past its “wall” and drooled down over North America.
And global warming is driving the amplification of the entire process.
At the same time the fossil fuel industry — particularly the oil industry — is enjoying record-breaking profits, thousands of Americans are dying every year from climate change-amped weather ranging from droughts to floods to massive tornadoes and derechos.
Industry CEOs and executives have knowingly lied to us for a half-century about this coming disaster, and most also continue to fund lies and liars while stuffing their money bins fuller every day.
The politicians who take their money and lie about climate change are little better: it’s almost impossible to find a Republican, nationally or even at the state level, who’s not on the take, directly or indirectly, from this poisonous industry.
How to deal with these moral crimes will be the next challenge confronting both democracy and our criminal justice system as Millennials and Zoomers take political power.
And that reckoning can’t come soon enough.”
Rwrf,
How many ice ages have occurred? Long before the industrial revolution and internal combustion engine. Why do they find dinosaur bones in the Arctic? Man can do little to affect the climate. Well perhaps you could point a finger at the marvelous Chinese and or volcanoes. Just my opinion and my choice.
CINO I’ll listen to the experts who have spent there lives studying the climate not some wannabe and a guy who spends his time pacing the floor on what to write in next weeks column, but if you guys have proof from”your ” science deniers then why don’t you post it? But I guess as old farm boy said and based on a book of theories it’s all up to the “power” from above.
My opinion my choice for sure.
Well said Mr. Traxler. I anxiously await the forthcoming investigation into what I and a lot of other non Kool-Aid drinking, heads out of the sand citizens of this great country feel is one of if not the most corrupt families/organizations in our nations history.
I was disappointed to finally see who was chosen for speaker of the house (we just got rid of one California nut job, why in the world would we want another?) but I hope that through all of the past weeks events he realizes he needs to grow a pair and get things straightened out in DC.
As for the current climate crisis of the decade.
All the puny humans who think they are going to change the course of the world with their ridiculous regulations and theories, they need to wake up to the fact that there is a higher power who has the situation under his control and man’s asinine attempts to alter that plan are futile and ridiculous.
The future of this world is in God’s hands, whether you like it or not. Accept this and live in peace.
Just saying.
Textbook Dunning-Krugerism on display here by Bob and his anonymous rightywhitey peanut gallery. None of these rubes have any expertise beyond the C- they got in tenth grade earth science many decades ago.
Mr. Gless,
Sir,
Are we underwater, frozen solid, burned to a crisp as the climate experts said was undeniable science? We must of missed that set of disasters. I graduated from college with honors and have a masters degree, in military arts and science attacking those who disagree with you as “rubes” is beneath you.
If you were a conservative you may have been canceled, like Mr. DTOM.
If you can not refute the facts attack the people who disagree with you.
Yeah, quite the master’s you’ve got when you can’t recognize the ignorant nonsensical strawmen you’re “whataboutisming” about here.
You are an ostrich with your head in the sand. How’s the ice fishing going this year? Maybe you could head north to Alaska and find some permafrost but it looks like that’s melting everywhere too.
Better to just keep your head in the sand. Maybe throw out a few “cigarettes are healthy” ads from the MAGA era to prove…something in your own mind.