WIKILEAKS: ThinkProgress Trashes A Climate Expert’s Career To Appease A Hillary Donor
Posted By Michael Bastasch (Daily Caller)
ThinkProgress Editor in Chief Judd Legum sent an email to a billionaire donor bragging how the liberal blog’s environmental writer targeted a climate researcher who challenged a major Democratic talking point on global warming, according to leaked emails.
The blog’s environmental arm, ClimateProgress, (run by Dr. Joe Romm) took issue with pollster Nate Silver’s 538 website, hiring Dr. Roger Pielke, Jr. to write about global warming issues. Pielke is no skeptic of man-made warming, but he challenged a Democratic talking point that global warming was making extreme weather more severe.
ClimateProgress immediately embarked on a crusade to discredit him “[p]rior to Pielke writing anything” for 538 — based solely on the fact they didn’t like his research on extreme weather.
“Pielke basically has made a career of ‘accepting’ climate change but disputing that we can really do anything about it or that it has much of an impact,” Legum wrote in a July 2014 email to hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer thanking him for his “support.”
Steyer is a major supporter of environmentalists and Democratic politicians. Steyer is a donor and bundler for the Clinton campaign, raising more than $100,000 for her campaign since 2015. He spent $73 million during the 2014 midterm elections.
ClimateProgress is part of the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF), which was created by Clinton’s presidential campaign chair John Podesta. Podesta also created the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, which gave CAPAF at least $1 million in 2015.
Legum’s email to Steyer was release by WikiLeaks from Podesta’s hacked Gmail account. It’s one of several emails involving the ThinkProgress blog.
ClimateProgress put out two articles attacking Pielke the same day he published a post on 538 headlined “Disasters Cost More Than Ever — But Not Because of Climate Change.” Pielke’s point was that extreme weather only does more damage today because there’s more wealth to destroy when hitting shore.
When economic growth is taken into account, “the overall trend in disaster costs proportional to GDP since 1990 has stayed fairly level,” Pielke wrote.
“Within hours, ClimateProgress published a comprehensive debunk, with quotes from many prominent climate scientists,” Legum wrote, chronicling Pielke’s eventual being forced to leave 538.
“Pielke was so upset with our piece, he called the scientists we quoted and threatened to sue them. Silver was forced to apologize,” Legum wrote. “Embarrassed, Silver was forced to publish a rebuttal to Pielke piece by an actual climate scientist, which was also devastating.”
Silver asked climate scientist Kerry Emanuel to rebut Pielke’s article. Emanuel wrote that he’s “not comfortable with Pielke’s assertion that climate change has played no role in the observed increase in damages from natural hazards.”
Silver never let Pielke publish any piece on global warming on 538 again — a fact Legum bragged to Steyer about in his email.
“I think it’s fair say that, without Climate Progress, Pielke would still be writing on climate change for 538,” Legum wrote.
“He would be providing important cover for climate deniers backed by Silver’s very respected brand,” he wrote. “But because of our work, he is not. I don’t think there is another site on the internet having this kind of impact on the climate debate.”
“Thanks for your support of this work. Looking forward to doing even more in the coming months,” Legum wrote to Steyer.
UPDATE: They are even worse – Climate Progess/Think Progress “making up stuff” as Joe Romm is so fond of saying:
https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/789134274620305408
There’s now this update to the Daily Caller article:
Update: Pielke told The Daily Caller News Foundation claims he threatened to sue his detractors was “a lie.” Reports that Pielke threatened legal action against two climate scientists came from The Huffington Post. Pielke says that’s false.
In fact, it was Legum who contacted 538 claiming Pielke had made legal threats against two scientists, according to HuffPo.
UPDATE2:
In another Podesta email, outed by Wikileaks, Joe Romm is referenced to Podesta as somebody who could vouch for another political climate operation
Hi John: I am the cofounder of Climate Hawks Vote, whose mission is to >> build political power for the grassroots climate movement. Brad Johnson is >> the ED of Climate Hawks Vote. You can check us out w/ Joe Romm.
Readers may recall that Brad Johnson (who left Climate Progress to start the “forecast the facts” operation against TV weather presenters and meteorologists) made some pretty slimy political hacks in the past, such as blaming tornadoes on how state representatives voted in the spirit of “they deserved death and destruction for not being onboard with consensus based climate views”:
The graph that Joe Romm and Brad Johnson don’t want you to see: tornado deaths per million over the last century
Source: NOAA’s US Severe Weather Blog, SPC, Norman Oklahoma
http://www.norman.noaa.gov/2009/03/us-annual-tornado-death-tolls-1875-present/
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If Nate Silver is such an expert statistician why didn’t he predict Donald Trump would win the Republican Party Primaries and the Nomination for President.
If these climate activists really do have “consensus” and the “facts” on their side, why do they have to resort to lying, cheating, and underhanded efforts to silence those who disagree with them? It just doesn’t add up. Apparently, they don’t have as much confidence in the sound basis of their message as they try to portray.
Sure it adds up. 94% of statistics are made up on the spot clearly applies here. A ‘Push Poll’ is a device to get people to fall in line by representing public opinion as accepting one description as correct. Appeal to Authority – the Logical Fallacy – is a case of exploiting this deception.
The sad thing is that nothing in WikiLeaks is a surprise, just confirmation.
The true believers on climate change only want sagecraft, not science. Lysenkosism is an apt epithet.
Is anyone surprised by any of this? Note that line about ‘within hours Climate Progress published a comprehensive debunk…’ That’s EXACTLY what they do EVERY time something – anything, falls against AGW theory. Hence SkS has a running total of ‘climate myths’ currently scoring 193-0 in their favour! They lie, simple as that.
Re alarmist’s auto-rebuttal tactics…earlier this week WUWT carried the Matt Ridley article and within a day the Guardian’s in-house attack-prick Dana Nutti’ has his ad-hom ‘rebuttal’ straight out there. It’s what they do.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2016/oct/19/no-longer-taken-seriously-were-seeing-the-last-gasp-of-climate-denial-groups
Who would have guessed?
the link for your tornado graph to not work:
http://www.norman.noaa.gov/2009/03/us-annual-tornado-death-tolls-1875-present/
Prof Muller says the same thing in his Physics for Future Presidents / Physics 101 presentations, that is, that adjusted for inflation, there is no increase in weather related loss/damage.
We are just a bunch of peons. Nothing we can say, no Red flags which we can fly, or maintenance of the truths of climate will make a difference. We are now witnessing constant revelations of corruption at the highest levels of our government and with those behind the scenes players who would rule us all. Then, nothing happens, as result. No one goes to jail, or misses a paycheck. They even flaunt their actions… take that, you peasants… there’s a place for all of you and you better know your place.
What we are witnessing is nothing new. The elites and the puppet masters have apparently learned nothing from history.
Listen carefully and you can almost hear the sound of blades being sharpened on the guillotines.
Look at the EPA. All the people and organizations they have fined and prosecuted for “violations” (many of which are somewhat dubious”, but they release a literal flood of toxic waste water into a major watershed, and the DOJ declines to prosecute. DOJ got the investigative report that showed exactly how and how badly the EPA screwed up and that it was ALL THEIR FAULT, and 24 hours later announces that no charges will be filed. I do not know if any actions were taken internally at the EPA, but it would not shock me if all of the responsible parties got the Lois Lerner treatment.
Imagine if a private company had committed such a stupid action.
The government was in charge when the Gulf of Mexico was contaminated from below.
The government was in charge when NYC subways flooded during a storm.
The government was in charge when the forest fires burned our woodland.
The government was in charge when the mines caved in.
The government was in charge in Flint Michigan when they polluted the drinking water.
The government was in charge when they created a lack of water in California.
The government was in charge when young black boys were gunned down in Chicago this weekend.
etc, etc, etc!
Maybe the government shouldn’t be in charge
of so much?Indeed. But we, the peons, have three things going for us.
1/. They, the elite, are stupid and complacent. They make big mistakes.
2/. Collectively, robots haven’t taken over yet, so we, the peons, have power. And are exercising it.
3/. There are some smart peons out there.
There’s a reason why the founding fathers included the 2nd amendment.
“The elites and the puppet masters have apparently learned nothing from history.” The winners write His Story ( the ruler’s purported experiences and heroism fiction ) Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 book burning novel was based on a historical event in 1410 England.
The decline in tornado death rate is probably at least in part a consequence of the demographic shift away from farms in tornado country and towards cities on the coast.
Ian, there has certainly been a rural depopulation via migration to the cities, However, the decline in tornado death rate is probably most attributable to advances in storm prediction, tracking and warning technology. The sprawling Oklahoma City metropolis serves as prime example. Some huge tornadoes, including the most violent storm ever recorded, have struck the city, but residents were given advance warning sufficient to save themselves. Tens of thousands of people in the storms’ path took shelter when given warnings from the Storm Prediction Center and National Severe Storms Lab at the National Weather Service in Norman, OK.
Alan, good point. And we can thank the storm research and warning system development over the years, at a cost of Millions of $$$. One can estimate that storm research and warnings have saved thousands of lives, all for just Millions of $$$, or just pennies a second.
By contract, the Billions of $$$ – that’s Billions with a B – spent on “climate change” over those same years have not saved a single life, not of a human, or a cat, or even a gnat.
Over my 50+ years of employment in something do with weather, I’ve been on some of those projects that turned doppler radar from experimental to operational, and radically improved storm warnings. I take great satisfaction in the life-saving achievements of that work. I’ve also been in the climate biz, examining assorted causes of climate change (in the original sense of the phrase). Climate is intellectually stimulating, a fascinating problem, and just fun working on by a warm computer on a snowy day. But that warmth is nothing like that which comes with saving lives.
“John Podesta” is an evil bastard, and I mean “EVIL”, in it’s most wicked form !
That thing is the Devil’s “offspring” !
Not figuratively, but “literally !!!
If someone “shaved” his head, underneath would be written, “666 – 01” !
The “Beast” will have “associates” and that “freak” will demand a place in the hierarchy to rule !
Podesta is amongst the most EVIL alive today on Planet Earth, but the good thing is, soon it has will arrive to a “pit” waiting for “IT” (I am “not” convinced that he is entirely “human”) with a “name” Written above it saying, “Here [ ROTS ] a beast of beasts, a disease of Mankind”, and it lasts for ever, and
You mean there is a well funded conspiracy to undermine skeptics? From the very people who claim there is one against them?
If the science is so clear why would you not let the data speak for them? Something to hide?
And no big oil stepping up to help the skeptics when they need it?
Maybe i have this all wrong??