The Week That Was: 2014-04-05 (April 5, 2014) Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org) The Science and Environmental Policy Project
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Quote of the Week: I’ve now been active for something like 70 years, and still I use the same mathematics. I think the main thing that’s changed as a result of computers is the magnitude of databases. We now have these huge amounts of data and very little understanding. So what we have now — I forget who it was who said this — are small islands of understanding in a sea of information. Freeman Dyson [H/t Thomas Sheahen]
Number of the Week: 25 to 30 years
THIS WEEK: By Ken Haapala, Executive Vice President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
NIPCC: The new report by the independent Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts, is attracting some media attention. For example, the editors of the Investor’s Business Daily wrote: While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was busy terrifying people, scientists and scholars at the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change say that global warming is not a threat. Which group is right? A simple observation quickly answers that. The editorial discusses the data from the Met Office in Britain, which shows no surface warming since the late 1990’s, and the epic failure of 95% of the climate models which over-forecast the warming trend since 1979, demonstrated in the graphs presented by Roy Spencer.
Writing in Forbes, Joseph Bast of the Heartland Institute, which publishes the NIPCC reports, gives a summary of the differences in eight findings of the NIPCC reports as compared with the reports of the government-sponsored UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In short, the NIPCC finds that there is little, if anything, occurring that is out of the range of natural, normal climate and weather changes. The IPCC findings claim significant changes, but are not placed in a historical context.
Slowly, the totally one-sided view that human emissions of greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide (CO2), are causing catastrophic anthropogenic global warming/climate change (CAGW) is shifting. Contrary views are being more broadly expressed in part of the press, but not in all media outlets. The appeal to the authority of government funded research and government agency publications remains strong in many media outlets. It is strange the many of the radical children of the 1960’s, who rejected government authority, now embrace it so fervently. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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IPCC: On March 31, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) release volume 2 of its 3 volume Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. The final, final of volume 1, the Physical Science, came out in January and volume 3, the mitigation report is due out on April 13. Some commentators expressed surprise that the latest report was somewhat less alarmist than past reports, and that the report emphasized adaptation and societal needs. An article in the Economist, which has been alarmist, stated: A new report from the IPCC implies that “climate exceptionalism”, the notion that global warming is a problem like no other, is coming to an end.
The article divides issues regarding global warming/climate change into three groups: 1) those in which climate change is the dominant influence, and human action is necessary; 2) those in which climate change is a modest influence, and the news is not entirely bad; and 3) those in which the results are both good and bad. The groupings may be artificial, but the approach is not as extreme as in the past.
Similarly, an article in the Atlantic emphasized the adaption part of the report rather than claiming that climate change must be stopped, an absurd position given that climate change has been occurring of hundreds of millions of years. The article points out that current political leaders have little interest in solving problems that may occur far in the future; that CO2 emissions are not the only reason people are vulnerable to climate change; and, that developing countries are not likely to control emissions and desire that the international community help them become less vulnerable (transfer funds from developed countries to the wealthy in less developed countries).
Writing in her blog Climate Etc., Judith Curry gives an overview of these articles and what appears to be the less alarmist, new approach of the IPCC. She is uncertain of the groupings given in the Economist but finds the new approach much healthier and realistic for the public debate on global warming/climate change.
Others are not as hopeful. Three major findings in the report are: 1) that global warming/climate change will cause disruption of agriculture and the threat of famine; 2) increased atmospheric carbon dioxide will cause ocean acidification (actually a reduction in alkalinity), threatening the oceans as a source of food; and 3) global warming will cause increases over historic sea level rise, threatening those who live on coastal areas. All these threats (called risks) are based on climate models that have not been validated and that are greatly over-estimating the warming since 1979. In short, the articulated threats in group one, as stated in the Economist that human must address, are purely speculation, not scientific knowledge or scientific predictions.
What others call a balance, may be a false balance, heavily weighted on the side of alarmism. The climate mitigation report from Working Group 3 is due to be released on April 13, 2014. There have been no reported leaks. The report may contain some draconian proposals of limiting CO2 emissions, particularly for developed countries. As stated on its web site: The IPCC Working Group III assesses all relevant options for mitigating climate change through limiting or preventing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing activities that remove them from the atmosphere.
In correspondence, physicist Donald Rapp quoted from the current report: “Earth’s changing climate is already having an impact on ecosystems, agriculture, coastal infrastructure, and a host of other human and natural systems.” Rapp then summed it neatly: “Show me the data!” See links under Defending the Orthodoxy, Questioning the Orthodoxy, and Seeking a Common Ground.
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Risk: Long-time IPCC critic and CAGW skeptic, Roy Spencer takes exception to the continued misuse by the IPCC of the term risk. Risk is based on quantifiable probabilities. As Spencer states, talking about possibilities of future events is one thing, but assessing risk refers to known tendencies of unfortunate events as a result of some causal mechanisms. Given that its models have not been validated, the IPCC has no basis for establishing known tendencies of events occurring. The claim that risks of severe weather events, such as snowstorms, heat waves, droughts and floods, have increased from an increase of atmospheric CO2 of 1 molecule per 10,000 parts of air is pure speculation and an inappropriate use of the term “risk.” See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Game Theory: In an article published in the Journal of Agricultural Economics, game theorists Fuhai Hong and Xiaojian Zhao have stated what many CAGW skeptics have surmised. “It appears that news media and some pro-environmental organizations have the tendency to accentuate or even exaggerate the damage caused by climate change.” The article provides a rational for this tendency. The authors “find that the information manipulation has an instrumental value.” The critical, untested, assumption employed by the authors is that an international agreement controlling CO2 emissions will enhance global welfare. The authors have provided academic cover for the excesses of the IPCC as well as outright alarmists such as Al Gore, and others, who are not factually constrained. For a blunt review, see comments by Luboš Motl in his blog, The Reference Frame.
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False Dichotomy: Global warming/climate change alarmists have long labeled CAGW skeptics as deniers. This labeling has resulted in a misrepresentation of the views of many skeptics, some of whom have studied climate change for over fifty years. The net result is the repeated use of a logical fallacy – the false dichotomy. A person either believes that climate changes or it doesn’t. The false dichotomy avoids the principal issue – cause. Quoted in an editorial in Inquistr (actual spelling) James Lovelock states: “It’s just as silly to be a denier as it is to be a believer. You can’t be certain.” He falls victim to the false dichotomy. See link under Seeking a Common Ground.
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Proper Null: In a post with provocative title “Evidence of absence versus absence of evidence,” Judith Curry brings up, again, the critical issue of the proper null hypothesis for addressing human influence on global warming/climate change. In an article published in 2013, NIPCC co-lead author/editor Robert Carter employed Occam’s Razor to the issue – the simplest explanation consistent with the facts is best.
Given the great natural variability exhibited by climate records, and the failure to date to compartmentalize or identify a human signal within them, the proper null hypothesis – because it is the simplest consistent with the known facts – is that global climate changes are presumed to be natural, unless and until specific evidence is forthcoming for human causation.
Carter’s approach is consistent with hypothesis testing in physical sciences, as described by Richard Feynman, and later interpreted into mathematics by Freeman Dyson. See links under Seeking a Common Ground and Other News that May Be of Interest.
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Proxy Data: In Climate Audit, Seven McIntyre has a somewhat technical post on testing the assumptions used in proxy reconstructions of temperatures. The basic assumption is that that each “proxy” has a linear relationship to temperature plus relatively low-order red noise. In Southern Hemisphere reconstructions using four sets of proxy data for temperatures, McIntyre finds that recent values are not significantly different than values between the last glacial maximum and the Holocene Optimum, and that the “low order” red noise is of a high order. Also, he demonstrates how some researchers reversed the temperature signal, showing warming when it actually was cooling. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Production Tax Credit: Although it expired at the end of 2013, extension of the wind power production tax credit is being considered by Congress. It passed on a voice vote by the Senate Finance Committee. Apparently, the Senators believe that after 130 years of trying to produce reliable electricity the wind industry is still an infant in need of protection, but they do not wish the citizens to know of their beliefs.
The arguments made in favor of the credit were distorted, again – green jobs being one of them. How does it benefit the taxpayers if such jobs require need constant subsidies, while other energy jobs do not? Another argument was income tax deductions taken by the oil and gas industries. However, these deductions are from revenues earned by selling a product customers wish to buy. There are different than tradable tax credits, created by government, for building an unreliable source of electrical power, which many utilities are forced to buy, even though it places costly demands on other sources of power. See link under Subsidies and Mandates Forever.
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Number of the Week: 25 to 30 years. Since the experience is limited, of the unknowns of extracting oil from shale is the producing life of the well. Unlike conventional wells that hit a sweet spot, the production from wells in shale falls quickly, leading some to state that the effort is an unsustainable fad. An analyst with Wood Mackenzie, an energy and mining research and consulting group, has publically estimated the productive life of wells in the Bakken shale formation (North Dakota and Montana) to be 25 to 30 years. Although still unknown, the same may apply to Eagle Ford and other formations in Texas. If correct, oil production from shale will be far from a fad. See Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
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ARTICLES:
For the numbered articles below, please see this week’s TWTW at: www.sepp.org. The articles are at the end of the pdf.
1. Bungling Drought Relief
By Allysia Finley, WSJ, Apr 3, 20114
2. Germany, EU Yet to Agree on Rules on Energy Subsidies
New Rules Will Set Out Which Types of Industry Can Benefit from State Aid
By Vanessa Mock, WSJ, Apr 2, 2014
German energy-intensive industries have applied for exemptions to the tune of €5.1 billion ($7.03 billion) for this year
3. Asian Gas Demand Spawns Floating Superfactories
Energy Companies Aim to Cut Costs With LNG Production Plants at Sea
By Eric Yep, WSJ, Apr 2, 2014
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NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Science: Is the Sun Rising?
The Atlantic Ocean dances with the Sun and volcanoes
By Christina Troelsen for Aarhus News
Aarhus, Sweden (SPX) Apr 04, 2014
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/The_Atlantic_Ocean_dances_with_the_Sun_and_volcanoes_999.html
The results provide a new and very important perspective on the AMO phenomenon because they are based on data and not computer models, which are inherently incomplete.
[SEPP Comment: The correlation is an indication of an association, The paper does not address the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.]
Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?
German Physical Society: Solar doldrums of the last years led to a cooling of the Earth’s surface
By Fritz Vahrenholt and Sebastian Lüning (Translated/edited by P Gosselin), No Tricks Zone, Apr 1, 2014
Climategate Continued
Frontiers Issues Statement on Lewandowsky
By Steve McIntyre, Climate Audit, Apr 4, 2014
http://climateaudit.org/2014/04/04/frontiers-issues-statement-on-lewandowsky/
Journal admits Lewandowsky paper retracted because it failed. Twice!
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 5, 2014
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Summary for Policy Makers, Nongovernment International Panel on Climate Change, April 2014
http://heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Full Report: http://heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Full-Report.pdf
ICSC Press Release: http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1226523/new-science-report-debunks-climate-scare
The IPCC’s Latest Report Deliberately Excludes And Misrepresents Important Climate Science
By Joseph Bast, Forbes, Mar 31, 2014
Global Warming: Anthropogenic or Not?
An Alternative View from Down Under
By Professor Robert (Bob) Carter, AITSE,
http://www.aitse.org/global-warming-anthropogenic-or-not/
Hey, IPCC, quit misusing the term “risk”
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Mar 31, 2014
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2014/03/hey-ipcc-quit-misusing-the-term-risk/
IPCC exaggerates risks: NIPCC Opposing view
By Joseph D’Aleo, ICECAP, Mar 31, 2014
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/political-climate/ipcc_exaggerates_risks_nipcc_opposing_view4/
Now considering that Kentucky is 2.1C warmer than neighbor Illinois, that has to be the most ridiculous statement ever made by an agenda driven pseudoscientist.
Debunking every IPCC climate prophesy of war, pestilence, famine, drought, impacts in one line
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 2, 2014
[SEPP Comment: Christy – Spencer graph.]
SH Proxies: Peru d18O
By Steve McIntyre, Climate Audit, Apr 1, 2014
http://climateaudit.org/2014/04/01/sh-proxies-peru-d18o/#more-19095
[SEPP Comment: LGM is the Last Glacial Maximum]
Defending the Orthodoxy
Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability
Summary for Policy Makers
By Christopher Field, et al. IPCC, Mar 31, 2014
http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/IPCC_WG2AR5_SPM_Approved.pdf
In the balance
A new report from the IPCC implies that “climate exceptionalism”, the notion that global warming is a problem like no other, is coming to an end
Editorial, The Economist, Apr 5, 2014
[SEPP Comment: Ignores evidence that with enhanced CO2, most plants are more resistant to stress, such as drought and insect damage, including C4 plants such as maize, sorghum and sugarcane. Further, much of the corn is in the US is not irrigated, contrary to what the article implies.]
The UN’s New Focus: Surviving, Not Stopping, Climate Change
The international body has issued a manual for adapting to a warming world.
By Uri Friedman and Svati Kirsten Narula, Atlantic, Apr 1, 2014
‘Behind the scenes’ of the new IPCC report with Stanford scientists
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Mar 31, 2014
Big impacts: The main messages from today’s big UN climate report
By Roz Pidcock, Carbon Brief, Mar 31, 2014
The IPCC’s report on the impacts of climate change: a summary for everyone
By Ros Donald, Carbon Brief, Mar 31, 2014
Climate change and health: IPCC reports emerging risks, emerging consensus
By Anthon McMichael, et al. The Conversation, Mar 30, 2014 [H/t Bud Bromley]
Bromley – Difficult to imagine more misinformation in a single article
Global Warming Dials Up Our Risks, UN Report Says
By Seth Borenstein, AP, Mar 30, 2014
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/global-warming-dials-our-risks-un-report-says
Questioning the Orthodoxy
United Nations’ IPCC Report Keeps The Alarm Ringing
Editorial, IBD, Mar 31, 2014
Global warming, not so bad at all really: says NIPCC report and thousands of references
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 3, 3014
Why the IPCC Report Neglects the Benefits of Global Warming
It needs catastrophe scenarios.
By Rupert Darwall, National Review Online, Apr 1, 2014 [H/t WUWT]
IPCC Ignores Its Own Data…Attempts To Incite Global Green Coup d’Etat Led By Alarmist Scientists
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Mar 31, 2014
Terence Corcoran: Climate changing? Get used to it, and get ready
By Terence Corcoran, Financial Post, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
UN Puts the ‘War’ Back in ‘Global Warming’
By Richard Kantro, American Thinker, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/03/un_puts_the_war_back_in_global_warming.html
UN Climate-change Report Uses Alarmist “Global Warming” Language
By Warren Mass, New American, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t Dewitt Edwards]
Buried in UN Report: $100 Billion More Needed to Adapt to ‘Global Warming’
By Barbara Hollingsworth, CNS News, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t Dennis Ambler]
Doubling Down On Dud Projections
By Tony Thomas, Quadrant, Apr 1, 2014
http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2014/04/doubling-dud-projections/
Examiner Editorial: Dealing with ‘climate change’ should not be a military concern
Editorial, Washington Examiner, Apr 1, 2014
UN climate report changes little on Hill
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Mar 31, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/202259-un-climate-report-brings-no-change-to-political-winds
When Did Anthropogenic Global Warming Begin?
Just the Facts, WUWT, Mar 29, 2014
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/03/29/when-did-anthropogenic-global-warming-begin/
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Bogus prophecies of doom will not fix the climate
By Richard Tol, Financial Times, Mar 31, 2014
The Politics of Climate Research Laid Bare
By Walter Russell Mead & Staff, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/03/31/the-politics-of-climate-research-laid-bare/
IPCC Insider Rejects Global-Warming Report
Richard Tol says alarmism is wrong.
By Alec Torres, National Review, Apr 3, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/374986/ipcc-insider-rejects-global-warming-report-alec-torres
Look on bright side of climate change, says IPCC report author
UN climate report scientist says that by staying positive about the future, the most intelligent people will be attracted to finding solutions to adapt to climate change
By Emily Gosden, Telegraph, UK, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
The WWF Activist in Charge at the IPCC [Ocean Chapter]
By Donna Laframboise, NFC, Mar 30, 2014
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2014/03/30/the-wwf-activist-in-charge-at-the-ipcc/
Cable Networks Largely Ignore Major Climate Change Report
By Michael Calderone, Huff Post, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/31/climate-change-report_n_5064389.html
The climate debate needs more than alarmism
Editorial, Telegraph, UK, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
[SEPP Comment: Physical evidence of human cause would help.]
Seeking a Common Ground
End of climate exceptionalism
By Judith Curry, Climate Etc. Apr 4, 2014
http://judithcurry.com/2014/04/04/end-of-climate-exceptionalism/#more-15129
Global Warming: Anthropogenic or Not?
An Alternative View from Down Under
By Professor Robert (Bob) Carter, AITSE, (February 2013?)
http://www.aitse.org/global-warming-anthropogenic-or-not/
Evidence of absence versus absence of evidence
Does global warming make extreme weather events worse?
By Judith Curry, Climate Etc. Apr 1, 2014
http://judithcurry.com/2014/04/01/evidence-of-absence-versus-absence-of-evidence/
Climate Change Believers And Deniers Equally Silly Says Environmental Guru
Editorial, Inquisitr, Apr 2, 2014
Avoiding agreement
By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Apr 2, 2014
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2014/4/2/avoiding-agreement.html
People must hear both sides of the climate story
By Bjorn Lomborg, Herald Sun, AU, Apr 1, 2014
Researchers use DNA to trace the lineage of polar bears
By Devin Kelly, Anchorage Daily News, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.adn.com/2014/03/31/3403302/researchers-use-dna-to-trace-the.html
[SEPP Comment: Polar bears survived Arctic warm periods far warmer than today.]
‘Great opportunities’ from climate change: Iceland PM
By Staff Writers, Reykjavik (AFP), April 02, 2014
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Great_opportunities_from_climate_change_Iceland_PM_999.html
Muting the alarm on climate change
Even with exaggerated assumptions of sensitivity, the IPCC has to down-grade alarm
By Matt Ridley, Rational Optimist, Mar 31, 2014
http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/muting-the-alarm-on-climate-change.aspx
Review of Recent Scientific Articles by NIPCC
For a full list of articles see www.NIPCCreport.org
FACE Studies of CO2 Effects on Plants May Be Too Conservative
Reference: Bunce, J.A. 2013. Effects of pulses of elevated carbon dioxide concentration on stomatal conductance and photosynthesis in wheat and rice. Physiologia Plantarum 149: 214-221.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2014/apr/1apr2014a1.html
Two Centuries of Sea Level Change Around the North Sea Coastline
Reference: Wahl, T., Haigh, I.D., Woodworth, P.L., Albrecht, F., Dillingh, D., Jensen, J., Nicholls, R.J., Weisse, R. and Woppelmann, G. 2013. Observed mean sea level changes around the North Sea coastline from 1800 to present. Earth-Science Reviews 124: 51-67.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2014/apr/1apr2014a2.html
Effects of Nocturnal Warming on a Chinese Grassland Species
Reference: Li, Z., Lin, J., Zhang, T., Zhang, N., Mu, C. and Wang, J. 2014. Effects of summer nocturnal warming on biomass production of Leymus chinensis in the Songnen Grassland of China: From bud bank and photosynthetic compensation. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science 200: 66-76.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2014/apr/1apr2014a3.html
Correctly Modelling the Indian Summer Monsoon
Reference: Prodhomme, C., Terray, P., Masson, S., Izumo, T., Tozuka, T. and Yamagata, T. 2014. Impacts of Indian Ocean SST biases on the Indian Monsoon: as simulated in a global coupled model. Climate Dynamics 42: 271-290.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2014/apr/2apr2014a2.html
Models v. Observations
Amstrup grasps at straws to defend his polar-bears-are-doomed computer model
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Apr 3, 2014
Model Issues
Why models can’t predict climate accurately
By Christopher Monckton, WUWT, Apr 2, 2014
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/02/why-models-cant-predict-climate-accurately/
Forecasters find new formula for long-range weather
British scientists are believed to have developed the world’s best long-term weather forecasting model, a breakthrough that promises major benefits for planners
By Padraic Flanagan, Telegraph, UK, Apr 1, 2014 [H/t Moorad Alexanian]
The Current Wisdom: The Administration’s Social Cost of Carbon Turns “Social Cost” on Its Head
By Paul C. “Chip” Knappenberger and Patrick J. Michaels, CATO, Apr 3, 2014
http://www.cato.org/blog/administrations-social-cost-carbon-turns-social-cost-its-head
[SEPP Comment: Models producing absurd results.]
Changing Weather
Only crickets on the record Great Lakes Ice season
By Joseph D’Aleo, ICECAP, Apr 3, 2014
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/they-said-it/only_crickets_on_the_record_great_lakes_ice_season/
[SEPP Comment: Little mention of the cold season in the general media. Such ice coverage of the Great Lakes has not been observed since climate alarmists were claiming the onset of a new ice age.]
Five Myths About Extreme Weather and Global Warming
By David Kreutzer, The Foundry, Mar 31, 2014
http://blog.heritage.org/2014/03/31/five-myths-extreme-weather-global-warming/
Changing Seas
Warm North Atlantic Ocean promotes extreme winters in US and Europe
By Staff Writers, London, UK (SPX), Apr 04, 2014
Link to paper: Forcing of the wintertime atmospheric circulation by the multidecadal fluctuations of the North Atlantic ocean
By Yannick Peings and Gudrun Magnusdottir, Environmental Research Letters, Mar12, 2014
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/9/3/034018/article
Oxygen depletion in the Baltic Sea is 10 times worse than a century ago
By Staff Writers, Aarhus, Denmark (SPX), Apr 03, 2014
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Claim: NSIDC, NASA Say Arctic Melt Season Lengthening, Ocean Rapidly Warming
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Apr 1, 2014
River ice reveals new twist on Arctic melt
By Staff Writers, Burnaby, Canada (SPX), Apr 04, 2014
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/River_ice_reveals_new_twist_on_Arctic_melt_999.html
[SEPP Comment: The deficiency in the article is that it falsely claims regional (Arctic) warming is explained by global warming.]
Changing Earth
Chile earthquake: How loss of life, damage was minimized
Latin American country hit by 8.2-magnitude quake
By Staff Writer, CBC News, Apr 2, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/chile-earthquake-how-loss-of-life-damage-was-minimized-1.2595662
[SEPP Comment: Adaption to threats is vital to lessen loss of life.]
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Food insecurity a growing challenge in Canada’s northern and remote Aboriginal communities
By Staff Writers, Ottawa, Canada (SPX), Apr 01, 2014
[SEPP Comment: How does this compare with the “food security” of the dying times resulting in the government herding the Inuits into villages?]
Satellite Shows High Productivity from US Corn Belt
By Kathryn Hansen for Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD (SPX), Apr 01, 2014
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Satellite_Shows_High_Productivity_from_US_Corn_Belt_999.html
Will Climate Change Devastate U.S. Corn Yields?
By Marlo Lewis, Global Warming.org, Apr 3, 2014
http://www.globalwarming.org/2014/04/03/will-climate-change-devastate-u-s-corn-yields/#more-19083
Un-Science or Non-Science?
More scare stories: Warming Climate May Spread Drying to a Third of Earth, Says Study
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Apr 1, 2014
Link to paper: Global warming and 21st century drying
By Benjamin Cook, et al. Climate Dynamics, March, 2014
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00382-014-2075-y
Invasive waterways species spread due to climate change
By Staff Writers, Belfast, UK (SPX) ,Mar 31, 2014
Lowering Standards
Crossroads
By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Apr 2, 2014
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2014/4/2/crossroads.html
[SEPP Comment: Is the Royal Society moving to the wishes of its major funder, the Government?]
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Climate divide widens under Obama
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Apr 5, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/202732-climate-divide-widens-under-obama
“If people are persuaded by evidence, they would have been persuaded long ago.” – Andy Dessler.
[SEPP Comment: What evidence that humans cause changing weather and global warming?]
Panel’s Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come
By Justin Gillis, NYT, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t Edward Briggs]
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/science/earth/climate.html
[SEPP Comment: The poor will be “victims as climatic disruptions intensify.” The article argues that the poor countries insist they must be compensate to the tune of $100 Billion per year. Send them coal for electricity.]
England issues health warnings over air pollution
By Staff Writers, London (AFP), April 02, 2014
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/England_issues_health_warnings_over_air_pollution_999.html
[SEPP Comment: Emissions of what?]
Global warming melts last stable edge of Greenland’s Zachariae ice stream, scientists say
By Staff Writer, ABC News, AU, Mar 17, 2014, [H/t Viv Forbes]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-17/global-warming-melts-greenland-ice-sheet/5324848
[SEPP Comment: 16%? What is happening to the rest?]
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Paper: It’s valuable to lie and cheat in the name of AGW
By Luboš Motl, Reference Frame, Apr 4, 2014
http://motls.blogspot.com/2014/04/paper-its-valuable-to-lie-and-cheat-in.html#more
Link to paper: Information Manipulation and Climate Agreements
By Fuhai Hong⇑ and Xiaojian Zhao, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Feb 24, 2014
http://ajae.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/02/24/ajae.aau001.abstract
Kerry on UN climate change report: ‘Costs of inaction are catastrophic’
By Justin Sink, The Hill, Mar 30, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/202141-kerry-costs-of-inaction-on-climate-change-catastrophic
LA Times Tony Barboza gets caught fear mongering the IPCC report, becomes first victim of facts that don’t agree with claims
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Apr 1, 2014
Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.
Undeterred By Facts, Climate Deniers Will Carry the Torch to Las Vegas
By RP Siegel, Triple Pundit, Mar 28, 2014
http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/03/undeterred-facts-climate-deniers-will-carry-torch-las-vegas/
Climate activists uncaged
Jailing global warming deniers? That’s a lot of hot air.
By Jonah Goldberg, USA Today, Mar 31, 2014
Gawker’s Adam Weinstein Wants to Put You in Jail for Being a Climate Change ‘Denier’
By Rick Moran, PJ Media, Mar 29, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
Expanding the Orthodoxy
Energy Infrastructure Risks and Adaptation Efforts
By Staff Writers, GAO, Mar 4, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-74
According to assessments by the National Research Council (NRC) and the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), U.S. energy infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to a range of climate change impacts–particularly infrastructure in areas prone to severe weather and water shortages. Climate changes are projected to affect infrastructure throughout all major stages of the energy supply chain, thereby increasing the risk of disruptions.
[SEPP Comment: What nonsense!]
Questioning European Green
How green policies hurt the poor
Cold? Hungry? Short of cash? You can always eat carbon credits…
By Bjørn Lomborg, The Spectator, UK, Apr 5, 2014 [H/t David Kreutzer]
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9176251/let-them-eat-carbon-credits/
Has Putin Ended the Green Movement in Europe?
By David Atherton, Breitbart, Mar 30, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/03/30/has-putin-ended-the-green-movement
The Unintended Consequences of Going Green
By William O’Keefe, Fuel Fix, Mar 29, 2014
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2014/03/29/the-unintended-consequences-of-going-green/
Watching Germany’s Endangered Utilities
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Apr 4, 2014
http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/watching-germanys-endangered-utilities/
Green Jobs
The Green Economy
By Martin Livermore, Scientific Alliance, Mar 28, 2014
http://scientific-alliance.org/scientific-alliance-newsletter/green-economy
Non-Green Jobs
Chart of the day: Shale oil turned one of America’s poorest states – North Dakota – into an ‘economic miracle state’
By Mark Perry, AEIdeas, Apr 1, 2014
The Political Games Continue
EPA hijacking energy policy, GOP critics say
Energy budget gives short shrift to coal
By Meghan Drake, The Washington Times, Apr 3, 2014
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/3/epa-hijacking-energy-policy-gop-critics-say/
Litigation Issues
Conservative group sues EPA over open-records requests
By Stephen Dinan, Washington Times, Apr 1, 2014
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/1/conservative-group-sues-epa-over-open-records-requ/
Kerr-McGee to pay record toxic waste settlement
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Apr 3, 2014
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
EPA faces bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Mar 30, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/202068-epa-faces-bipartisan-backlash
[Senate] Finance [committee] votes to restore wind tax credit
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Apr 3, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/202592-finance-votes-to-restore-wind-tax-credit
Wind farms are paid £8.7m in one month to stop turbines
By Ben Webster, The Times, Via GWPF (limited) , Apr 3, 2014
http://www.thegwpf.org/subsidy-farmers-paid-8-7m-in-one-month-to-stop-wind-turbines/
EPA and other Regulators on the March
Obama’s EPA Conducts Dangerous Human Experiments
Editorial, IBD, Apr 4, 2014
EPA Budget Focus: GHG Trumps More-Serious Environmental Issues
By Anthony J. Sadar, American Thinker, Mar 30, 2014
More Fraudulent Science From EPA
By Paul Driessen, Townhall, Mar 29, 2014
The Troubling Basis for EPA’s Rosy Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Clean Air Act
By William Yeatman, Global Warming.org, Mar 31 2014
Crucial climate regs head to White House
By Benjamin Goad, The Hill, Apr 1, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/energy-environment/202281-crucial-climate-regs-head-to-white-house
Energy Issues – Non-US
As Russia Stumbles, Gazprom Comes Up $910 Billion Short [in forecasted market value]
By Halia Pavliva and Ksenia Galouchko, Bloomberg, Apr 3, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-03/gazprom-s-910-billion-gaffe-shows-putin-economy-waning.html
Canada Suffering from Climate Model-Based Energy Regulations
America should look north to see what happens when government attacks coal.
By Tim Ball and Tom Harris, PJ Media, Mar 29, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://pjmedia.com/blog/canada-suffering-from-climate-model-based-energy-regulations/
Clean energy investment falls 11 percent globally in 2013
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Apr 4, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/202659-clean-energy-investment-falls-11-globally-in-2013
[SEPP Comment: Expenditures are not necessarily investment.]
Energy Issues — US
94% of Electricity in 2013 Came from Reactors, Dams and Fossil Fuels
By Terry Jeffrey, CNS News. Mar 28, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wiese]
Attack on Power Grid Underscores Terrorism Threat
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Mar 31, 2014
http://www.newsmax.com/LarryBell/terrorism-power-grid/2014/03/31/id/562677/
Clash over Crimea stokes U.S. energy fight
Gas, oil sales could weaken Moscow’s clout
By Ashish Kumar Sen, Washington Times, Mar 31, 2014
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/31/clash-over-crimea-stokes-us-energy-fight/
Going on Offense: The American Energy Renaissance Act of 2014 (Cruz, Bridenstine set tone for post-Obama world)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Mar 31, 2014
http://www.masterresource.org/2014/03/offense-american-energy-renaissance-act-2014/
[SEPP Comment: A Federal energy and jobs policy proposal based on allowing energy sector growth – without subsidies or mandates.]
Americans Still Favor Energy Conservation Over Production
Americans look to conservation and renewable energy for solutions
By Brendan Moore and Stafford Nichols, Gallup Politics, Apr 2, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
[SEPP Comment: Another vague poll. The question to ask: to conserve energy, do you set your thermostat to 55 degrees in the winter and 80 degrees in the summer?]
Washington’s Control of Energy
In the Name of Global Warming
By Warren Beatty, American Thinker, Apr 4, 2014
http://americanthinker.com/2014/04/in_the_name_of_global_warming.html
Link to fact sheet: FACT SHEET: Climate Action Plan – Strategy to Cut Methane Emissions
By Staff Writers, Mar 28, 2014
U.S. Should Produce And Export More Petroleum Products
By Paul Driessen, IBD, Apr 1, 2014
U.S. Fracking To Europe’s Rescue
By Walter Russell Mead & Staff, American Interest, Mar 29, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/03/29/u-s-fracking-to-europes-rescue/
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Report: Bakken oil output to soar as spending hits $15B
By Josh Wood, AP, Apr 3, 2014
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2014/04/03/report-2014-bakken-oil-output-1-1m-barrels-a-day/
US more dependent on major foreign oil suppliers
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Apr 4, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/202663-us-more-dependent-on-major-foreign-oil-suppliers
[SEPP Comment: Misleading headline. Total imports peaked in July 2006 and have been falling since. In 2005 annual imports were 5,005,541 Bbl and in 20013 3,574,781.] http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mttimus1&f=a
Over half of US crude oil produced by five states
By Laura Barron-Lopez, The Hill, Mar 31, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/202178-over-half-of-us-crude-oil-produced-by-five-states
Link to data: Crude Oil Production
By Staff Writers, EIA, Mar 28, 2014
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_crd_crpdn_adc_mbbl_m.htm
After shale gas, now for tight oil [UK]
By Nick Butler, Financial Times, Mar 30, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://blogs.ft.com/nick-butler/2014/03/30/after-shale-gas-now-for-tight-oil/
Russia fallout pushes Europe to develop shale gas
EU could pursue many long-term options
By Alanna Petroff, CNN, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.kspr.com/life/money/Russia-fallout-pushes-Europe-to-develop-shale-gas/21052342_25241546
Exxon: Climate change won’t stop oil and gas
By Laura Barron-Lopez, The Hill, Apr 1, 2014
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/202278-exxon-climate-change-wont-stop-oil-and-gas
Here Comes $75 Oil
Lower energy costs will have a salutary effect on the U.S. economy. Not so Russia, where oil provides 50% of government income.
By Gene Epstein, Barron’s Mar 29, 2014 [H/t GWPF]
[SEPP Comment: Speculative.]
Return of King Coal?
Coal Is The New Black Gold Under The North Sea
By Jonathan Leake, Sunday Times, Via GWPF, Mar 30, 2013
http://www.thegwpf.org/coal-is-the-new-black-gold-under-the-north-sea/
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Opportunities Lost
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Apr 1, 2014
http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/opportunities-lost/
[SEPP Comment: Decades of propaganda are still not enough for the public to accept uneconomical energy projects.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Energy Department signals new loans from stalled advanced vehicles program
By Zack Colman, Washington Examiner, Apr 2, 2014
California Dreaming
Fish Instead of People, Ideologies without Consequences
By Victor Davis Hanson, PJ Media, Mar 31, 2014
http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/ideologies-without-consequences/
Environmental Industry
James Lovelock: environmentalism has become a religion
Scientist behind the Gaia hypothesis says environment movement does not pay enough attention to facts and he was too certain in the past about rising temperatures
By Adam Vaughan, Guardian, Mar 30, 2014 [H/t WUWT]
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/30/james-lovelock-environmentalism-religion
Big Green’s ‘sue-and-settle’ strategy draws pushback from states, Congress
By Ron Arnold, Washington Examiner, Apr 1, 2014
Meeting climate targets may require reducing meat and dairy consumption
By Staff Writer, Chalmers, March 31, 2014 [H/t WUWT]
Other News that May Be of Interest
A ‘Rebel’ Without a Ph.D. [Freeman Dyson]
By Thomas Lin, Quanta, Mar 26, 2014 [H/t Tom Sheahen]
https://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20140326-a-rebel-without-a-ph-d/
Methane-spewing microbe blamed in Earth’s worst mass extinction
By Will Dunham, Reuters, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t Clyde Spencer]
[SEPP Comment: How does a microbe spew?]
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BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:
“The Onion” Headlines We Would Love to See (some fun with fading Malthusianism, chronic cronyism)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Apr 1, 2014
http://www.masterresource.org/2014/04/onion-headlines-1/#more-30083
Using more wood for construction can slash global reliance on fossil fuels
By Kevin Dennehy for Yale News. New Haven CT (SPX), Apr 04, 2014
[SEPP Comment: Sell this to those who write building codes for safety!]
Apocalypse Cow — Obama EPA To Regulate Bovine Emissions
Editorial, IBD, Mar 31, 2014 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/033114-695328-white-house-to-regulate-cow-flatulence.htm
I Can See Climate Change from My House,
By Steven Hayward, Power Line, Mar 31, 2014
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/03/i-can-see-climate-change-from-my-house.php
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NIPCC in Washington – April 7 — 10
Presentations by Lead Authors/Editors and Others
Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change
Volumes 1, 2 & 3 of Climate Change Reconsidered II
The Physical Science, Biological Impacts, and Economics, Energy, and Policy
Open to the Public
Tuesday April 8 – 8 am Breakfast at the Capitol Hill Club
300 1st St SE
Phone: 202/484-4590
Contact: Aaron Stover
Cell: 703/801-7916
11:30 Lunch at the Cato Institute – co-sponsored by the George C. Marshall Foundation
1000 Massachusetts Ave NW
Contact at Cato: Rachel Goldman
Phone: 202/218-4606
Contact at Marshall: Jeff Kueter
Phone: 202/296-9655
Wednesday, April 9 8 am Press conference, National Press Club, Bloomberg Room
Thursday, April 10 Briefings on Capitol Hill (Not open to the public)
###################################################
9th International Conference on Climate Change
Press Release, The Heartland Institute, Mar 17, 2014
http://climateconference.heartland.org/
July 7 – 9 — Las Vegas, Nevada
Includes the Findings of the New Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) Climate Change Reconsidered II, Volumes 1, 2, and 3
###################################################
These roundups are in desperate need of an English-speaking proofreader or three. They’re pretty bad.
“It is strange the many of the radical children of the 1960’s, who rejected government authority, now embrace it so fervently.”
Not so strange, really. The fight was against traditional morals, not its means and those means have survived once the morals have been replaced. That replacement, and nothing more, was the objective of progressivism. Which is the reason why “political correctness” has been realized as hypocritically as it has. And it is also the reason why today’s establishment is as brutally ignorant as yesterday’s. Cocky and full of themselves but essentially hollow.
We are now at a different cross-roads, I think. Information has empowered some of us and it is becoming more and more important to be informed if one wants to be relevant. Essentially, it is a shift from external authority to one’s own or, in other words, a process of maturation.
Number of the Week: 25 to 30 years. Since the experience is limited, of the unknowns of extracting oil from shale is the producing life of the well. Unlike conventional wells that hit a sweet spot, the production from wells in shale falls quickly, leading some to state that the effort is an unsustainable fad. An analyst with Wood Mackenzie, an energy and mining research and consulting group, has publically estimated the productive life of wells in the Bakken shale formation (North Dakota and Montana) to be 25 to 30 years. Although still unknown, the same may apply to Eagle Ford and other formations in Texas. If correct, oil production from shale will be far from a fad. See Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
————————————————————
With shale wells averaging less than 10 barrels per day for 25 of those years, they won’t do much to quench the oil thirst of the U.S. Horizontal drilling and fracking technologies have increased U.S. oil production by about 2 million barrels per day in the last 4 years, but we are still importing over half of the oil what we use. Bearing in mind that shale wells are reduced to stripper well status in about 5 years or less, the only way to sustain that 2 million barrels per day is by new drilling. When we run short of capital or good quality new well locations, the shale oil production will reach a plateau and then decline. Look for that in about 3 years and don’t hold your breath waiting for oil prices to drop below $100 per barrel. Barring a deep recession, that won’t happen.
Let me add that we are consuming about 19.5 million barrels per day while producing only about 7.5 million. See the problem?
“The Atlantic Ocean dances with the Sun and volcanoes”
By Christina Troelsen for Aarhus News
Aarhus, Sweden (SPX) Apr 04, 2014″
Note: Aarhus is in Denmark, not Sweden.
I do not know English so as to be read by all those things and more in other discussions, but I’m sure 100% that climate changes are not caused by human factors. Among the various panelists There was a “fever” in which “healthy body” must not be damaged by aggressive ‘virus called CO2 “.
It is necessary to know the natural laws that govern the behavior of all the elements in the solar system, and when he realizes it (it is clear that the sunspot cycle of about 11.2 years, a mean value, and never the same, because there are a myriad of sub-cycles), must be sought true causal climate change phenomena of earthquakes and the like. Take the butterfly diagram of sunspots, it takes about 123 years. Is that 11 cycles of 11.2 years? There are other cycles and smaller and larger than given when the conditions that are weaker or stronger temperature changes, magnetic fields or reconnection of the magnetic poles of the sun. Does anyone explain why this phenomenon is related to the sunspot cycle. I have not heard that anyone knows to explain. I want to give my idea about it, but what I can not do that when there are hundreds of thousands of experts and doctors who do not even hear. How, then, to believe them when their proofs are different and there are more than sub-cycles sunspot. These two groups of panelists can find common cause and what should be done next. I wonder whether there is anyone in the art that wants to hear my evidence, but it will not be a gift, because it is so far on empty rhetoric spent several hundred billion dollars without evidence of causes. My request would be much less than one per mill of that amount.
THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS OFFER!
Number of the week: 25-30 % (drop in the markets) WS pros & institutions used the flat period to unload huge blocks of stock to retail investors. Buy the dip or crap out? Grey hair says don’t buy the dips. May a while before momentum stocks bag holders get relief. Rotation was on, going into energy & metals. Particularly coal, gold & safe dividends.
http://www.businessinsider.com/negative-and-positive-preannouncements-2014-3?nr_email_referer=1&utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Markets%20Chart%20Of%20The%20Day&utm_campaign=Moneygame_COTD_033114
What went around comes back around.
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/02/15/the-secret-trading-strategy-from-the-1930s-that-hedge-funders-dont-want-you-to-know-about/
Shakeout in stocks seen continuing – CNBC
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101561316
Waterfall drop highly likely later this week.
Pro-Moscow protesters seize arms, declare republic; Kiev fears invasion
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA360TI20140407
RSX RUSL Anything long Russia, Very bad. Geopol is 2X against them, and will be getting more draconian soon. RUSS (bull)
And I thought April 1st, or huntinggowk had passed nearly a week ago. Apparently not, see here how the US navy is going change the second law of thermodynamics.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/us-navy-game-changer-converting-seawater-fuel-140544115.html#Oa4I9pk
Kindest Regards
“I think the main thing that’s changed as a result of computers is the magnitude of databases.”
No use for the processing capability? Understanding the result is important, but its still handy to, for example, create distributions, control charts, scatter plots and trend lines at the click of a button. Days of error prone mechanical labor converted to a button click. e.g. Minitab or Jmp.
Concerning “It is strange the many of the radical children of the 1960’s, who rejected government authority, now embrace it so fervently”
Those children are now the government authority.
Separatists build barricades in east Ukraine, Kiev warns of force
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA380C620140409
Dead cat bounce, big time, if your long US stocks the bump & dumps are going to… you know. Be careful.