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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE

Gasoline Prices Headed Right Where the Democrats Want Them: The Higher, the Better for the Party at War With Cheap, Reliable Hydrocarbon Energy

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/03/11/gasoline-prices-headed-right-where-the-democrats-want-them/

While running for president, Barack Obama said electricity prices will “necessarily skyrocket” under his energy plan. As gasoline reaches unaffordable heights for many Americans, never forget that the Democratic Party wants to inflict painful energy costs on the country. It’s in its political DNA.

As of Thursday, the average U.S. price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.32, the highest ever recorded in this country. A month ago, it was $3.48. A year ago, about six weeks after Joe Biden took the oath of office, it was $2.82. 

Recent projections that the U.S. average would peak at $4.25 a gallon around Memorial Day weekend now seem quaint. Would anyone be surprised if prices were nearly double that in much of the country before they begin to recede?

Biden has blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine for soaring prices, and swears his administration is trying to bring down prices. But the truth is, the Democratic Party wants gasoline to be priced as a luxury good, even if it hurts Democratic voters in the middle and lower economic classes:

On global warming, journalists are very consistent: They never ask questions By Jack Hellner

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/03/on_global_warming_journalists_are_very_consistent_they_never_ask_questions.html

Another week and we get another dire report on the climate from the U.N. and again there is no scientific data showing a direct link between oil use and temperatures, sea levels, and storm activity. What they have are computer models.

Here is what they are putting out now:

UN panel’s grim climate change report: ‘Parts of the planet will become uninhabitable’

Life in some locations on the planet is rapidly reaching the point where it will be too hot for the species that live there to survive, international climate experts said in a report Monday.

“With climate change, some parts of the planet will become uninhabitable,” said German scientist Hans-Otto Pörtner, co-chair of Working Group II for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which produced the report released in Berlin.

The report assesses scientific literature documenting the devastating effects of human-caused climate change on society and ecosystems worldwide. 

And, as always, the media just reports these dire reports without asking any questions or doing any research. Five simple questions would be:

Why have your previous predictions been 100% wrong?

Why should we believe these predictions and base policies on these predictions when previous predictions have been completely wrong?

Shouldn’t policies be based on actual scientific data instead of computer models that can easily be manipulated to get the results you want?

Should we ever destroy an industry based on computer models, especially one that has greatly improved the quality and length of life?

Has the UN ever accomplished anything that indicates they have the ability to control the climate?

The Only Thing Joe Biden Doesn’t Want Made in America Is Energy By David Harsanyi

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/03/the-only-thing-joe-biden-doesnt-want-made-in-america-is-energy/#slide-1

Look on the bright side: The president is so unpopular that Congress is unlikely to pass any of his green-energy policies.

I n his State of the Union address, among a list of moonshots — curing cancer, stopping drug addiction, and so on — President Joe Biden asked Congress to resuscitate his “environmental justice” agenda, arguing that it is the best way to fight rising energy prices and create jobs.

This isn’t merely fantastical, but suicidal. Even if Americans were willing to retrofit society to accommodate hundreds of thousands of windmills and millions of solar panels, even if we could afford the tens of trillions of dollars necessary to implement such a plan, it would basically end U.S. economic superiority.

And sometimes it seems like this is the goal. Biden’s first act as president was to revoke permits to build the Keystone XL, a now-dead 1,700-mile pipeline from Canada. In the executive order, the president claimed that the pipeline “disserves” our national interest and was inconsistent with Biden’s economic and climate imperatives. A week later, Biden signed a slew of executive orders prioritizing climate change over energy production, stopping new oil and natural-gas leases on all public lands.

A Reckoning Approaches for Obama’s EPA Abuses Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2022/02/reckoning-approaches-obamas-epa-abuses-daniel-greenfield/

The Supreme Court’s willingness to consider West Virginia v. EPA strikes at the original beating heart of the power grab perpetrated by the Obama administration.

The media is vehemently denying that West Virginia v. EPA is still relevant. The Biden administration claims that it has no intention of resurrecting its abuses. Yet in a legal environment and court environment where the abuses of the Obama administration have often been quickly buried, the determination to keep pursuing West Virginia v. EPA is laudable.

And the Left and its enviro-profiteers are understandably worried because West Virginia v. EPA has the potential to bring light into the great darkness of unlimited regulatory power that they have wielded for so long. 

Once the Left got its EPA, the agency has seized unlimited power, asserting control over literarily everything. The manufacture of a global crisis shifted the terms from real pollution issues in identifiable bodies of water to the power to regulate and control every single shred of human activity in the United States.

John Kerry’s Ukraine Emissions He frets that Russian brutality will distract from climate change.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-kerrys-ukraine-emissions-climate-russia-vladimir-putin-11645736997?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned in an interview this week about “massive emissions consequences” from a Russian war against Ukraine, which he also said would be a distraction from work on climate change. Nevertheless, he added, “I hope President Putin will help us to stay on track with respect to what we need to do for the climate.”

What’s overheated here is Mr. Kerry’s brain. His comments came before Vladimir Putin began Thursday’s massive assault on Ukraine. But the BBC says the interview was taped this week, and the alarms about Mr. Putin’s impending attack have been ringing loudly. Mr. Kerry was running Foggy Bottom in 2014 when Mr. Putin invaded Crimea. How has he failed to internalize that Mr. Putin is a bad actor motivated by power and Russian revanchism?

Mr. Kerry told the BBC that he hopes Mr. Putin realizes Northern Russia is thawing, “and his infrastructure is at risk, and the people of Russia are at risk.” We’ll wait until you stop laughing. Mr. Putin deserves to be made a pariah. Western leaders like Mr. Kerry shouldn’t be wondering whether a polite tea in Moscow might induce him to slightly lower next year’s oil production when he can enrich the Kremlin by selling it for $100 a barrel.

Mr. Kerry’s defenders—assuming they exist—might say he’s merely fulfilling his role as President Biden’s climate envoy. And Mr. Kerry did express to the BBC his concerns about “the people of Ukraine,” as well as the principle of using force to alter boundaries.

But Mr. Kerry’s comments aren’t a gaffe. They reveal the Biden Administration’s obsession with climate, and with punishing fossil-fuel production, which has made the U.S. and Europe vulnerable to Mr. Putin’s energy blackmail. The climate lobby has made Mr. Putin more powerful. Every time Mr. Kerry visits Moscow, the boys in the Kremlin must think it’s Christmas.

JOE BIDEN: PUTIN’S GREEN PATSY

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/02/25/joe-biden-putins-green-patsy/

President Joe Biden has finally come forward with sanctions against Russia and Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. Don’t expect much. Thanks to Biden’s economically destructive climate-change policies, Putin holds a decisive advantage in this conflict.

“This aggression cannot go unanswered,” Biden said, speaking Thursday as he unveiled what he called “devastating” financial punishments. “If it did, the consequences for America would be much worse. America stands up to bullies. We stand up for freedom. This is who we are.”

During his campaigns and while in office, Biden has often posed as a tough guy against the Russians – even as his family pocketed millions from Russian and pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians, corruption virtually ignored by the American big media.

“Putin knows, if I am president of the United States,” Biden said in a 2019 fundraising video, “his days of tyranny and trying to intimidate the United States and those in Eastern Europe are over.” 

So far, mission not accomplished.

Then there’s this:

“Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be president. He doesn’t want me to be our nominee,” Biden tweeted on Feb. 21, 2020. “If you’re wondering why – it’s because I’m the only person in this field who’s ever gone toe-to-toe with him.”

Well, he’s now going “toe-to-toe” with Putin for real, and it doesn’t look so good. His sanctions, which may pinch Russia a bit but don’t go nearly far enough to reverse Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, sound tough. Among them are restrictions on Russian financial institutions, bans on technology exports, and financial restrictions on some members of Putin’s government. But not Putin himself.

“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences,” Biden said Thursday, outlining his actions, which, he predicted, would “impose severe costs on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.”

In fact, Biden pulled his punches, leaving Russia’s economy still standing.

LET THEM EAT BUGS

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/02/22/let-em-eat-bugs/

For those who haven’t heard, cattle and pork are threats to the environment. The farms that raise them are foul greenhouse gas offenders. Better, say our superiors, that we settle for a nice bowl of insects instead.

A recent New York Times opinion feature headlined “​​The Joy of Cooking (Insects)” looks at “​​our broken food system and the three chances you get to help fix it – and save the planet – every day.”

“​​A growing tribe of environmentalists, academics and entrepreneurs are arguing that edible insects must enjoy a wider acceptance to help create a more sustainable global food system,” says the Times.

“It’s time for bugs. Whether you regard them as agents of filth or sources of nutrition, integrating more of them into your diet … is among a suite of dietary changes that we urgently need to consider to deal with food insecurity, biodiversity loss and climate change.”

The World Economic Forum claims “eating insects could reduce climate change” since “our consumption of animal protein is the source of greenhouses gas.”

The same organization has also said “we need to start nurturing – and eating – weeds,” which “can be nutritious and tasty, if we know which ones to pick.” Again, the greenhouse gases emitted by animal farming is the reason we need to go on a North Korean diet. Just another sacrifice we have to make to keep Gaia healthy.

The phrase “let them eat cake” has been attributed to Marie Antoinette. Whether she or an unnamed “great princess” of France said it, its disregard for hungry and sometimes starving peasants was clear. The royal class was going to continue to dine sumptuously, at least until they lost their heads in the revolution, and the rest were going to have to do with less.

Biden’s Regulators Empower Putin FERC sets rules that will block new U.S. natural gas pipelines.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-bidens-regulators-empower-putin-ferc-natural-gas-joe-manchin-11645217981?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

We live in strange and contradictory times. President Biden is trying mightily to deter a Russian invasion in Ukraine at the same time his regulators are working to give Vladimir Putin more leverage over global energy supplies. Obsessive climate politics gets more self-destructive by the week.

In an act of bizarre timing, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday revised its policy for approving natural gas pipelines and export terminals. FERC by law must vouch that projects are in the public interest and won’t have a significant environmental impact. But now the agency plans to include greenhouse gas emissions in this analysis. The vote was 3-2, with two Republican commissioners dissenting.

***

Here’s the kicker: The pipeline analysis may include emissions from upstream production and downstream consumption even though there’s no reliable way to measure either one.

Why global warming is good for us Climate change is creating a greener, safer planet. Matt Ridley

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/15/why-global-warming-is-good-for-us/

Global warming is real. It is also – so far – mostly beneficial. This startling fact is kept from the public by a determined effort on the part of alarmists and their media allies who are determined to use the language of crisis and emergency. The goal of Net Zero emissions in the UK by 2050 is controversial enough as a policy because of the pain it is causing. But what if that pain is all to prevent something that is not doing net harm?

The biggest benefit of emissions is global greening, the increase year after year of green vegetation on the land surface of the planet. Forests grow more thickly, grasslands more richly and scrub more rapidly. This has been measured using satellites and on-the-ground recording of plant-growth rates. It is happening in all habitats, from tundra to rainforest. In the four decades since 1982, as Bjorn Lomborg points out, NASA data show that global greening has added 618,000 square kilometres of extra green leaves each year, equivalent to three Great Britains. You read that right: every year there’s more greenery on the planet to the extent of three Britains. I bet Greta Thunberg did not tell you that.

UC-Berkeley Gets Mugged by Environmentalists By Dan McLaughlin

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/uc-berkeley-gets-mugged-by-environmentalists/

Lots of things done by liberals and progressives sooner or later reach targets they were “never meant to” harm.
I am fond of citing Robert Conquest’s Three Laws of politics:

1. Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.

2. Any organization not explicitly and constitutionally right-wing will sooner or later become left-wing.

3. The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.

The old saw about a conservative being a liberal who has been mugged is a variant on Conquest’s First Law. Something similar is now happening to the University of California at Berkeley. One would think that Berkeley, of all institutions, cannot be outflanked from the Left, but in California, eventually, the bill for leftism comes to everyone. In this case, the state’s oppressive regime of environmental regulation is threatening Berkeley’s enrollment:

UC Berkeley, one of the nation’s most highly sought after campuses, may be forced to slash its incoming fall 2022 class by one-third, or 3,050 seats, and forgo $57 million in lost tuition under a recent court order to freeze enrollment, the university announced this week. The university’s projected reduction in freshmen and transfer students came in response to a ruling last August by an Alameda County Superior Court judge who ordered an enrollment freeze and upheld a Berkeley neighborhood group’s lawsuit that challenged the environmental impact of the university’s expansion plan. Many neighbors are upset by the impact of enrollment growth on traffic, noise, housing prices and the natural environment. The University of California Board of Regents appealed the ruling and asked that the order to freeze enrollment be stayed while the appellate process proceeds. Last week, an appellate court denied that request. The regents on Monday appealed that judgment to the California Supreme Court. . . . The furor has left 150,000 first-year applicants to UC Berkeley in the lurch, just a month before the campus is scheduled to send out admission offers.

Faced with a pincer movement from environmental activists, neighborhood NIMBYists, and an activist judge, Berkeley is . . . fighting them and bemoaning the outcome, insisting that the environmental impact is being overstated:

“This court-mandated decrease in enrollment would be a tragic outcome for thousands of students who have worked incredibly hard to gain admission to Berkeley,” UC Berkeley said in a statement. “If left intact, the court’s unprecedented decision would have a devastating impact on prospective students, university admissions, campus operations, and UC Berkeley’s ability to serve California students by meeting the enrollment targets set by the state of California.”

Even some Democrats are shocked into action when it’s Berkeley, not some rancher, on the receiving end of this, although it appears that the proposed solution may protect only the favored state university:

State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said he would unveil legislation next week related to the state environmental law that was used by the Berkeley neighborhood group. He declined to release details but said the state law was never meant to stop public universities from expanding to meet student needs. “It’s outrageous that a court is dictating a student enrollment cap for UC,” he said. “That’s a complete overreach.”

Lots of things done by liberals and progressives sooner or later reach targets they were “never meant to” harm.