The Ineptitude of the Press

I watched the First Republican Debate this past Wednesday. Unlike reports from most of the legacy media, I found the proceedings relatively poorly handled and some of the questions and responses were like driving a Ferrari in the bicycle lane. There was little on climate change and even less from the media, however, Brian Tyler Cohen, an MSNBC contributor, regarding candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s climate contradiction, wrote, “Climate change (and the Democratic agenda that confronts it) is far from a hoax. Climate change is an existential threat to our national security, our economy, and our planet. Phoenix reached 110 degrees for 31 days in a row. Maui’s severe drought helped set the stage for a devastating wildfire. A tropical storm pummeled Southern California for the first time in almost a century. These facts may not be convenient for Republican primary candidates, but that doesn’t change objective reality.”

So while quite amateurish and inept in climate change testimony and evidence, let’s review the ‘three’ items that according to Cohen, prove to his progressive reading audience, that, without a doubt, climate change is a reality:

Phoenix reached 110 degrees for 31 days in a row.
Several years ago, in the month of September, I remember standing in a large Arizona parking lot at 117° waiting for my wife, accompanied by our eldest grandchild to come out of the store. Walking in that parking lot actually shaped footprints into the asphalt. Once away from the parking lot, the heat subsided substantially. In 1950, the population of greater Phoenix was 106,818 people. In 2021 it was 1,624,569 people and growing rapidly. The Phoenix urban heat islands are continuing to grow – in sizeable American cities from 2000 to 2021, only San Antonio, Texas had a larger increase in population, as a percentage, than Phoenix, but not by very much.

When waking up in the Valley of the Sun, one finds out via morning television that the temperatures are always warmer at the Airport or downtown than on the city’s outer edges – at times significantly so. Yet these higher values are the official records. While temperatures most likely broke more records in the 1930s, the mark of 110° was chosen for obvious, propagandist reason. As Cliff Mass, professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington, in the article, “Is Global Warming Causing Massive Heatwaves?” points out that had they chosen 112° or 115° as is often hit in Phoenix, the alleged record would fall significantly. In the recent past, at 115° it would arrive in 8^th place.

A drought in Maui set the stage for a devastating fire.
In his article “The Real Cause of the Maui Wildfire Disaster” Cliff Mass explains a wind anomaly that developed in the upper reaches of the Maui Mountains that came down and snapped power lines that started the fire on non-native grasses. Mass concludes, “Strong dry winds support fire and result in rapid movement of the flame front, as well as moving embers ahead.  The winds could well have started the fire by damaging infrastructure.   As noted in my earlier blog, a huge reserve of dry, flammable grasses was in place. This event was not the result of climate change, Hurricane Dora, or an extended drought.  It resulted from an unusually intense mountain wave/downslope windstorm produced by a fairly rare convergence of conditions”.

The greatest tragedy in all of this is that Lahaina could have in place a safety warning system that foretells this type of destructive wind phenomenon and the inhabitants could have vacated the region before the winds struck.

A tropical storm pummeled Southern California for the first time in almost a century.
The weather arrived in California as a tropical storm and not a hurricane as the climate alarmists had hoped. I presume it was called a hurricane for increased dread since in reality it should have been named a typhoon. A hurricane in the Pacific is normally called a typhoon. I cover the history of tropical storms in California in my blog “A Sunday Short - The Hilary with only one "L" and how tropical storms have been a norm for the state since records began in 1854.

If one thinks about it, how often over the last number of decades have we seen rock and mudslides on California’s Pacific Coast Highway 101 while houses slide down rain-soaked, collapsing cliffs – all as a result of tropical storms?

Let’s look at MSNBC’s Cohen article again and his initial charge that, “Climate change is an existential threat to our national security, our economy and our planet.
Let’s look at that allegation relative to fossil fuels. First, review the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) which can handle 720 million barrels – the following graph tells a very sad story and it does not appear that there is a move towards replenishment.

With the continuing battle against fossil fuels, are we supposed to do battle, if required, with a few nuclear ships and submarines? I really don’t believe electric planes, tanks, trucks, and other electrically powered combat armaments have been invented or proven effective as yet. At this point in history, this nation is heavily out-gunned and out-manned. I very much doubt we have efficient or sufficient power to operate production plants in a time of war. If America is in fuel turmoil and facing combat fragility, so is NATO and all other allies.

As far as the economy goes, since the current administration has waged its war on fossil fuels, resultant of many issues including the climate change-laden Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), prices of everything have soared, the price of fuel doubled and any increase in wages cannot compete with elevated inflation and the vast increases in everyday costs. Homelessness and crime have increased exponentially.

The planet Cohen talks about, even if carbon dioxide matters, has much greater CO2 emitters in China and India, and those emissions are increasing daily as new coal plants in both countries are being commissioned. With a China-Russia pact, they can essentially control the planet and it’s due to the USA’s faulty vision in not keeping up or maintaining its leadership position all resulting from a deficiency in traditional fuels.

Lastly, in his blog “Is Global Warming Causing Massive Heatwaves?”, Mass also covers the expected and intensified El Niño which began during the middle of March (see chart below) and has been the cause of many weather systems this past summer. For the honest scientist natural occurrence is the cause of many weather anomalies over the past few months, however for the eco-politicians, activist scientists, lapdog media, and the worshippers communing at the altar of global warming, it is always and forever the promotion of climate change.