From Dr. Roy Spencer’s blog:
Ecoterrorism. Eco-terrorism is defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as “the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against people or property by an environmentally oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature.” -Wikipedia
It appears that at least some people are beginning to take the shots fired into the side of our building a little more seriously.
By way of clarification, the March for Science here on Saturday did not pass right by our building, but started farther down our street. (As I’ve said before, the shots would not have been fired during the march. The expensive “boutique” FN Five-seven [5.7 mm] gun used has a loud report — everyone would have noticed.)
Also, there seems to be some disagreement whether all shots hit John Christy’s floor (4th floor of the NSSTC). UAH Chief of Staff Ray Garner has been quoted in this AL.com story that a few shots hit the third floor. I did not see those when surveying the outside; each floor has about 5 ft of window at the top, and 3 ft of siding below the window. Some of the bullets hit the siding below the window. Below the 4th floor would then be 5 feet of window on the third floor, and no third floor windows were hit that I could tell.
But it doesn’t really matter. The bullets all hit near John Christy’s office.
In fact, these details miss the big picture of this event. Even if: (1) the bullets had hit the other end of the building, (2) on the first floor, (3) it didn’t happen on Earth Day weekend, and (4) there was no March for Science that weekend, I would still consider 7 shots fired into our building a probable act of ecoterrorism.
I am not surprised this happened at all.
For the last 25 years our science has been viewed as standing in the way of efforts to institute a carbon tax or otherwise reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The amount of money involved in such changes in energy policy easily run into the hundreds of billions of dollars… more likely trillions.
When I was at NASA, my boss was personally told by Al Gore that Gore blamed our satellite temperature dataset for the failure of carbon tax legislation to pass.
So why am I not surprised that our building was shot up?
Because people have been killed for much less reason than hundreds of billions of dollars.
This is why the FBI needs to get involved in this case, if they haven’t already. Ecoterrorism is a federal crime. There were federal employees in the building at the time the shots were fired into the building.
The original media reports that the event was a “random shooting” were, in my opinion, irresponsible. As far as I know, there were no questions asked of us, like “Do you know why someone might have intentionally shot into your building?”
Well, hell, yes I know why. And I’m a little surprised it didn’t happen sooner.
John and I have testified in congress many times on our work. John has been particularly effective in his testimony over the years. While I believe the shots were a “message” to us, I don’t think John or I are that worried for our personal safety. Whoever did this is most likely not going to approach us and physically threaten us in person. Instead, we mostly just get hate mail. Nevertheless, just in case I took personal defense training with firearms years ago.
I doubt that the perps will ever be identified. But if UAH employees want to have a sense of safety, it is not helpful for such an event to be deemed a “random shooting” within only six hours of it being reported, and the public told it won’t be investigated any further. Last evening, the UAH police sent out emails to everyone on campus asking for any additional information related to the shooting, and correcting their previous statement that no one was in the building during the shooting (NWS employees are here 24/7). The FBI needs to also be involved in this, sending a message that if anyone tries to do this again, there might be consequences.
The parents of students considering attending UAH would expect no less.
CLARIFICATION: I didn’t mean to imply the motive for the shooting was necessarily financial, although the perps could have been paid to do what someone else was afraid to do on their own. It’s more likely they are religiously motivated, hoping to Save the Earth. Of course, the evidence that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is good for life on Earth is not part of their religion.
“Whoever did this is most likely not going to approach us and physically threaten us in person. Instead, we mostly just get hate mail. Nevertheless, just in case I took personal defense training with firearms years ago.”
Ditto that. CCW.
..Thank God for the Second Amendment, which liberal socialists want to take away !!
Now you know why.
WOW! In California, that is an accomplishment. Good people ought to be armed as they will, with wits and guns and The Truth.
Not so much, I believe. There is a wide disparity in California but Butte county (where Chico is located) is pretty much a “shall issue” jurisdiction for concealed carry, as opposed to NJ which is a “never on your life even if they’re breaking down your door” state.
In NJ, that’s only true for the average man in the street. If you are politician or celebrity it’s not that difficult to get a permit.
@MarkW
An even better chance if you are a rapper with one or more felony convictions…
I favor gun rights, of course, and certainly there is truth to the credo that ‘a gun makes everyone the same size,’ but The problem with self-defense via firearms is that you have to have it on you. There’s also the abiding fact that, if you try and defend yourself with a gun – and you happen live in a Progressive city – you will be prosecuted for it, just to make an example of you. This just happened in Portland recently, where a guy pulled a gun and brandished it when a crowdfull of ‘protected-class’ citizens in one of those ‘protest marches’ had him cornered – they threw the book at him and convicted him on something like 29 counts. Alone against a mob, never fired a shot, and his only message to those threatening him (all from their position on the high moral ground, remember) was ‘get away from me.”
Now, obviously, that means you’re still alive and unbroken to stand trial. But it’s also one reason why it’s a good idea to learn to take care of yourself unarmed.
It’s an even better argument for leaving such progressive cities if you live in one, and never visiting one if you don’t.
Let them rot in their own refuse.
Well, my Dad’s people were Germans living in Russia, who fled just ahead of the Communists – under gunfire, from what I understand – they hit the beach and just kept running. (My mother’s people were the Indians and outlaws in the woodpiles along the way – so yeah, I’m one of those ‘mongrels’ Eugenics was trying to prevent). But now we’re in Oregon, and there’s nowhere left to run, except into the sea.
So, nothing left to do, no where else to run. And because these control-freaks WILL NOT leave us alone, there’s pretty much no choice this time except to turn and fight. Because, I guarantee you that rot will spread.
More inciteful and witty comments from the all-knowing MarkW!
Thank you bazzer. Did you have anything intelligent you wanted to add, or are you just here to marvel at my brilliance?
/sarc
Is this infatuation now advanced to stalking MarkW?
Has the aging (1959) paramour sent you presents, yet?
Do be careful!
This bazzy misspelling stalker is spooky weird.
Aging? I resemble that remark.
As do I, MarkW.
And then some+. 🙂
“Deplorable” lack of interest by the MSN…. !
Can open carry in AL now.
I am so sorry that your lives are being threatened. The fascist socialist left is a mob of killers and lives will be lost they look for scapegoats.
Just one pedantic point that happens to be a personal burr under my saddle; “fascist socialist” is redundant. All Fascists are Socialists.
Never let anyone forget that.
@Bartleby
“All Fascists are Socialists”
I used think that until I read about Franco. He was right wing.
Fascism can come from any direction.
If he was right wing, he wasn’t fascist.
Just because the leftists called him a fascist didn’t make him one.
Franco was an authoritarian, and while all fascists are authoritarian, not all authoritarians are fascists.
An authoritarian dictator who does not heavily control the private sector is just a dictator. As soon as he controls business (directly, as in communism, or indirectly as in Nazism) he is a socialist.
He’s not just a socialist, he’s a Fascist by definition. Fascism is authoritarian socialism and all forms of socialism throughout history have been authoritarian. Socialism requires centralized control, unlike free market capitalism which is a distributed economic model.
Can’t legally carry here on campus, though. But the most recent Alabama gun legislation allows us to keep a weapon in our car while parked on campus…not that it helps much. I rerely see anyone open carry here…part of the new legislation prevents police from stopping someone just because they are open carrying.
Probably should not divulge that info Doc. Just sayin…. less known is better. You may want the mods to remove it.
Unless the shooter is a total idiot, they can easily find out whether any given campus allows weapons. Besides, laws barring carrying on campus is no guarantee the campus is gun-free. But I get your point.
I suspect anyone who wants to know if they will encounter “legal” resistance already knows about the campus they are targeting. Besides, laws are no guarantee, since some people value their life more than observing a specific law.
Hell, I carry when I go fishing!
Are the fish particularly aggressive in your neck of the woods?
MarkW:
I believe it is the furry relatives of polar bears, Pamela is careful about. Not so much troglodytes that think fisher people are carrying wads of cash when they play with piscatory critters.
Shop keepers and muggers just love smelling money that reeks of bait and dead fish.
Though it does depend on where one fishes.
In some areas, one is likely to meet poisonous reptiles or other vicious uncaring prehuman creatures.
One, must be careful when journeying amongst the danger of the world!
I’ll be praying for you Mr Spencer. You as well Anthony. God Speed!
Really? My understanding was that there were no laws restricting guns on campuses in Alabama.
Hey Roy and John,
Sorry about your week. We have experienced interesting times here too.
This was a national story published by the CBC this Monday, 24April2017. The Mazeppa project produced up to 40% sour (H2S) gas from wells within about 1 mile of heavily-populated suburbs of SE Calgary. As little as 0.1% H2s is instantly fatal if inhaled. I learned a year ago that the pipelines were probably badly corroded, reported the safety concern and the project was safely shut down. At a guess, we could have had a disaster here that made Bhopal, with 3000 deaths, look small in comparison.
Best wishes to all at UAH, Allan
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/lexin-resources-what-went-wrong-1.4038838
It was nearly a year ago when Allan MacRae got a call from a friend and former colleague warning of trouble brewing at a small Alberta natural gas producer.
Lexin Resources wasn’t on the radar of most Albertans last spring, but it was under scrutiny from the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), and some of its own employees had become concerned about safety.
Lexin operated more than 1,300 natural gas wells in the province and the 30-year-old Mazeppa Processing Plant south of Calgary, which processed sour gas — a natural gas that contains hydrogen sulphide and is deadly to humans and animals, even in small concentrations.
It needs to be managed very carefully.
And that’s why what MacRae learned shocked him. His contact at Lexin said that because of financial difficulties, the company wasn’t maintaining the plant as well as it could and didn’t have access to many of its sour gas wells because it hadn’t made lease payments to landowners. More importantly, his source was concerned the company wasn’t doing enough to maintain the pipelines that carried sour gas to the plant.
MacRae, a professional engineer who’d been the General Manager of Engineering for Canadian Occidental when it owned the Mazeppa Plant in the 1990s, did his own research and came to an alarming conclusion.
“Worst-case scenario would look like this,” MacRae told CBC News. “You have a major [pipeline] blowout with sour gas with a southeasterly or easterly wind and it carries over a number of southeast and east Calgary subdivisions.
“Nothing from earthworms and up would survive.”
MacRae wrote to the AER about his concerns in late May. The regulator had been monitoring Lexin for months at that point, and in mid-June it ordered that the pipeline system be shut-in until repairs were done. About six weeks later, Lexin told the AER it could no longer respond to an emergency at Mazeppa and that the sour gas leak monitoring system wasn’t working. Days later, the regulator ordered the plant to be shut down.
[end of excerpt]
Yikes!
From your linked news:
Double Yikes!
Scratch
Calgaryoff this summer’s vacation visit list.I second yours and everyone else’s Best Wishes to all at UAH!!
Be careful!
Theo – as I stated above, the situation has been made safe.
Come on down to the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth!
The Calgary Stampede runs July 7-16. Yee-haw!
http://www.calgarystampede.com/stampede
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/01/28/12th-international-conference-on-climate-change-iccc-12-to-be-held/comment-page-1/#comment-2411419
My friend Dr. Tim Ball has received many death threats, probably because he lives on Canada’s loony Left Coast. It seems that the climate lemmings run West, and build up in Vancouver before dropping into the Pacific.
I only ever received one threat, in 2002, after I wrote the first article in the National Post that slammed the imbecilic Kyoto Accord. As I recall I concluded that our Prime Minister Jean Chretien (aka Jean Poutine) should scrap this expensive folly and instead buy every Canadian a Honda Accord – that would be much cheaper and more sensible.
But I only ever received one threat. That bothered me for a time. I mean, had I not spoken out enough against global warming idiocy? Had I not published enough articles slamming this nonsense?
I mean, y’know, like, I mean, um, totally, y’know… Was I not worthy?
Whoever did this has a fair amount of money, and not much experience with firearms. 5.7 X 28 is a pistol/submachine gun cartridge, intended for short range. It is fairly new, and uncommon, and expensive because of those factors.
There are rare and expensive cartridges that could have been used, like the Whisper series intended for suppressed rifles, that would have shown some planning, but this looks like the work of a prosperous zealot.
Tom,
How certain can we be that this wasn’t a 5.56 mm round, or even a .22LR? It would have suffered deformation after passing through the glass windows.
Shell casings are definitive of the cartridge.
CS, I seem to remember mention of someone finding cases. The bullets of most .22 caliber rounds are similar, but the cartridge cases differ.
A 28mm case can’t deform into a 45mm or 15mm case.
I’m doubtful as to whether the casing went through the window.
Only a few rounds of ammunition originate fresh from some designer’s blueprints.
Most rounds begin with an existing case that fulfills at least some of a firearm cartridge designer’s needs.
The 5.7X28mm Five-Seven cartridge is one of those cartridges designed from scratch, but the case and round have many similarities to existing rounds.
Just the performance designers of the 5.7X28mm had in mind, none of the existing cases made it worthwhile as a starting position.
Brass cases can be easily shaped. Case mouths can be widened or narrowed. Long cases cut short or inconvenient magnum belts turned off in a lathe.
Providing the brass is thick enough, short cases can be drawn or spun longer.
During Israel’s war for independence, Israeli’s resized brass lipstick cases into forbidden ammunition cases in a small manufacturing room built beneath a laundry. The laundry noises covered up the brass reforming noises.
Lack of commercial ammunition sources are only a temporary hindrance, just as the lack of commercial firearm manufacturers are minor hindrances to people desiring freedom or those with evil intent.
USSR’s gift to the world, AK47 technology is based primarily on bent sheet metal technology. Technology available in most auto garage shops and proven by AK47 manufacturing garages in Somalia and Afghanistan.
Your last half of the last sentence is correct.
Militarily, the five-seven cartridge is short range urban use.
Practically, the 5.7X28mm is usable for target shooting or hunting purposes.
The .300 Whisper, or perhaps the .300 Blackout as it is called after SAAMI approval is neither rare or expensive.
Technically, any round of ammunition travelling faster than the speed of sound when it exits the barrel, breaks the sound barrier causing a sonic boom.
Silencers, or suppressors muffle the blast from igniting the gunpowder. They do nothing for the sounds of the gun itself or the sonic boom of the projectile exiting the barrel; Speed of sound, approximately 1,100 fps (335mps).
Downloading ammunition can be dangerous, so J.D. Jones of SSK industries set out to design a somewhat specific purpose round; “the cartridge was designed as a multi-purpose cartridge from the beginning. Its design parameters, in addition to the ballistics quoted above, were that it must be capable of being used in the AR-15/M-16 family of rifles.”
Needless to state, J.D. Jones was very successful. His design quickly helped develop a family of similar cartridges.
Yes, the .300 whisper (Blackout) is an excellent round, considering that it was constrained to 5.56 ammunition size restrictions. And the round is still accurate when loaded to slower than speed of sound.
The Five-Seven, 5.7X28mm is also downloaded to speeds slower than the speed of sound.
The SS193 trajectory is the slower than speed of sound round.
The SS197SR is a regular sporting round.
I am not that current on the details, but the common 5.7 rounds are supersonic. Assuming the use of LE or military rounds goes outside the use by most private parties.
Subsonic rounds are not limited to police, military or Law Enforcement.
Subsonic rounds are gaining immense popularity as most shooters suffer at least some hearing damage.
The main differences between LEO only ammunition and public accessible is the makeup of the bullet itself. Aluminum or steel core would be LEO, lead core would be publicly available.
Too much guns in the USA
…WRONG. !..Too many liberal socialist zealots that think they should control everything that you do !
…Including BREATHING !
If that’s not satire/sarcasm, then… just wow.
…in wrong hands.
Don’t leave a gun in a car.
..Dear Hugs….First, I’ll give you a hug, then I’ll smack you on top of the head !! LOL….NO GUN should be left just sitting around..responsible gun owners are NOT to blame for any irresponsible gun owners actions…IMHO…There are laws (and training) that need to be followed …
Probably to few.
How many people are going to darw a gun if they were faced with 100 aimed back at them
The problem is that leftists in general tend to assume that everyone who isn’t them, is a child. Therefore they assume that children shouldn’t be allowed access to anything dangerous. They also assume that people who disagree with leftists are dangerous fanatics who can’t control their emotions, therefore if someone has a gun, he’s going to use every time he gets upset.
..Well stated Bryan….EXACTLY to ONE of the points of armed citizens..
‘The problem is that leftists in general tend to assume that everyone who isn’t them, is a child.’
I used to have a friend who, whenever I disagreed with him, would explain his point all over again – as if I didn’t understand it the first time.
No, I understood perfectly, and found his position invalid – usually with citations and evidence. Whereupon he would explain it all over again.
But that was an easy problem to solve – once I recognized futility, I simply gave up, and we eventually stopped hanging out together. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work it the larger paradigm against the Progressive ideologue – they won’t let you walk away.
So… what’s left after you’ve reached futility?
I haven’t figured that one out yet.
Not enough guns in the USA.
It really amazes me how socialists assume that people who break other laws, will turn around and decide to obey a law banning gun ownership.
On the other hand, socialists make a habit of believing impossible things.
Conservatives and liberals are united in a common ethos:
Prohibition works.
They are wrong.
You have to figure any shooter that sees a ‘no guns allowed’ sign, will naturally just shrug, kick the ground and go shoot up some place that allows guns.
That’s what they do, right?
Just like lions will go immediately after the biggest, meanest buffalo in the heard – particularly the one that’s looking right at them.
Another inciteful and witty comment from the all-knowing MarkW!
Note that the great and glorious bazzer doesn’t attempt to refute anything I wrote, he just agrees with.
Seems leftists are capable of learning.
Hey, Bazzer – that’s the second time you posted that same line. I guess that’s the limit of your wit, incite, and knowledge – low-level smartass.
Geez – too lame to even be a good Troll.
M,
Libertarian conservatives know that prohibition doesn’t work.
Well, Marty. And just who would you take guns away from?
And how would you get rid of all the pipes…. and gasoline….. and wrist rockets….. and motor vehicles driven swiftly…… and well, you seem to know so much, so I need not list all of them, hm?
Evil will always be with us. Our choice is to submit (translate that into Arabic….) or to fight.
I thank GOD for our 2nd amendment rights.
Without them, the crime rate in Vancouver, B.C. is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than that of large cities in the U.S.. Take a drive through town up there — bars on windows everywhere. Neat place to live, eh? In Chicago, a “gun control” mecca, gun crime is much HIGHER than elsewhere.
If you want both freedom and safety, the right to bear arms is essential.
For that matter, anyone with even a modest machine shop can make a gun in a few hours.
For anyone who’s interested, do a bing search on zip guns.
There has never been a case where outlawing guns has caused violence to decrease. In most cases, even gun violence did not decrease. There has never been a case where loosening gun laws has caused an increase in gun violence.
Dear Librarian Janice, ever notice that “Gun Free Zones” are terrorists favorite target ? D’OH !
Wrist rockets !!, now that brings back memories 🙂
Yes, Butch, you enthusiastic student, you! That is why this “librarian” hopes she will NEVER work for a public school (besides the fact that most state education associations are a mini-socialist state unto themselves).
Sitting DUCKS.
“Gun control. For the children.” — NOT!
James (u.k.) — for you and my little brothers, lol. 🙂
Kansas has just passed a law stating that all gun-free buildings must now have a metal detector and guards at the entrance. It may cost some money, but it’s a smart move. There will be less gun-free zones as a result as well. Laws don’t stop criminals, that’s what inherently makes them criminals, and signs are even less effective at stopping them — imagine that. There has been at least one instance in the last few years where a carrier of a legal firearm has thwarted a robbery in the state, with no one getting hurt in most cases.
I hope you know who I am, my favorite “librarian” !!
The only people who obey laws banning guns, are the people you don’t have to worry about in the first place.
Janice, with all do respect, I don’t think you are correct about the crime rate in Vancouver being higher than that of large cities in the US. Are you basing this assertion on” driving through town and seeing bars on windows” ? Maybe checking crime statistics for Vancouver would be more accurate, and scientific.
I figured it out about 2 weeks ago, “‘Butch”! 🙂 Take care.
Hi, Holly,
No, lol, I got the info. either from my NRA (National Rifle Association) “First Freedom” magazine or from Mark Steyn’s website. It is the property crime/home invasion that is higher.
Yes, I should have cited some sources to back up my claim. It would, indeed, have been more “scientific” to compare/contrast property/home invasion crime rates in Vancouver, B.C. with some U.S. cities.
Re: the bars on windows/doors — that was just corroborative evidence as far as I was concerned.
Thanks for pointing out that I messed up. It will help me to do better next time!
(I’m just not going to take the time to do that research today)
Janice
No worries Janice, thanks for the reply.
Ok, I’ll do it for you. Vancouver (Canada) has a high crime rate. link My theory was always that street-involved-people were attracted there by the mild climate. That breaks down when you realize that Winnipeg, where you freeze to death in about thirty seconds, is the perennial murder capital of Canada. link
Notwithstanding the above, Canada overall has about half the murder rate of America overall.
Janice, you hit the nail on the head.
I grew up in Vancouver on the 50s and 60s.
Good neighborhood, children playing till dark.
Nobody locked much of anything, including houses and cars.
In as little as 2 decades the part of town where I grew up had bars on the windows.
The media indicated Vancouver as a world friendly city, I found it to be the opposite.
Crime rate through the roof.
Love your comments Janice; keep the coming.
Thank you, cBob! Your cites are good evidence of the higher property crime rate in a no-right-to-bear-arms city. I owe you one.
********************
Aw, Hans. Thank you, so much. I needed to hear that today (and many other days, too). Much appreciated. I hope that you and your lovely wife are enjoying spring — wherever you are.
An excellent source of researched information: More Guns, Less Crime by John Lott, Univ. of Chicago Press. 1st edition 1998, 3rd edition 2010. City, county, and state level data for every county in U.S. from 1979 to 2005.
MarkW writes: “There has never been a case where outlawing guns has caused violence to decrease.”
You and I both know that outlawing private ownership of guns has always led to the singular conclusion of an authoritarian regime; no exceptions. Outlawing guns is the signature of an authoritarian takeover. There have been no exceptions in all of history.
Guns are a very emotional issue on both sides. The thing is that guns are mostly irrelevant to public safety. As far as I can tell, the thing that best correlates with safety is prosperity. safe countries list
America doesn’t make the list of safe countries but, as someone pointed out, it would if ten zip codes were removed.
I am disgusted by the ninnies who think taking away people’s guns would make them even a little bit safer. People are clueless when it comes to evaluating risk. BTW, I’ve never owned a firearm, mostly because I’m an embarrassingly bad shot.
Bartleby:
You are spouting nonsense when you write
We in the UK are NOT governed by an “authoritarian regime”. If we were then we would get rid of it in the General Election to be held in June. And any political party that said it wanted removal of UK gun laws would be defeated by a landslide in the General Election.
I think quotation from the satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’ is warranted.
Richard
commieBob, John Lott has done studies that link increased gun ownership with drops in crime rates.
For highly emotional issues I discount studies on both sides. I prefer to rely on observations that aren’t likely to be cooked. An example would be Janice’s observation that a lot of windows in Vancouver (Canada) had bars. My all time favorite went something like this:
The quotation is BS and therefore replaced by a summation:
“Some dreary violent anti-gun fantasy with basis or reality.
Indeed? Tell us all about how England’s vote against unelected Euro tyranny has resulted in freedom for all British?
The upcoming election you refer to, is some sort of verification/validation of England’s vote to withdraw from unelected Euro rule.
Not that Britain’s MPs have figured out what self rule means.
Your response about Britain’s overwhelming rejection of repealing anti-gun laws, is opinion based on isolation. Just as the original exit from Euro oversight was a surprise, you may very well be surprised at such a freedom vote.
There are many British who know their history and how hard that right to self defense was to earn originally.
Nor was the right to self-defense given up by popular vote. It was diktat from the start, along with succeeding additional restrictions.
Blaming one particular physical tool is a mindless truly alarming fantasy.
Firearms have zero desire to kill.
Firearms, simply accomplish what some one with evil intent desires.
Even if firearms could be banished, violent crime continues unabated. Any claims for reductions are false, since the flashy sounds and sights of gunshots draw attention where lead pipes are not noticed.
Before firearms, there were crossbows and bows.
Before bows, there were spears and swords.
Before blades, there were sticks and stones.
That sinister internal desire of evil minded violent people is not diminished by illusionary lack of method or means.
http://nypost.com/2015/04/17/mcveigh-regarded-bombing-that-killed-168-people-a-failure/
https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/tokyo-subways-are-attacked-with-sarin-gas
https://www.worthynews.com/2507-plot-uncovered-for-sarin-gas-attack-in-london-subways
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-libya-arrest-idUSKCN0T819V20151119
Be aware that most of the terror and mass killings perpetrated in the United States over the last few decades were committed in declared gun-free zones.
Why not read the study before dismissing it.
The premise makes sense. Having an armed population dramatically increases the cost of being a criminal. Criminals either decide to find some other source of income, move somewhere else, or stop moving altogether.
ATheoK:
Your blather does not alter the reality that
* Bartleby’s assertion are demonstrated to be nonsense by the facts that
* The UK is NOT governed by an authoritarian regime
* If the UK were governed by an authoritarian regime then it would not be having a General Election
* The UK has some of the most strict laws in the world that govern gun ownership
* The UK populace values the safety provided by UK gun laws so much that any political party which wanted to repeal those laws would lose a General Election by a landslide.
Richard
Lazy? Efficient?
I look at Switzerland and Israel both of which have a lot of guns in people’s houses and see rather low murder rates. Gun control is a lot like other authoritarian crap like prohibition. It’s a plausible sounding theory that at best doesn’t work and at worst causes a lot of harm. It would take a lot of really astounding evidence to make me in favor of gun control. If there were any chance of that happening I would go back and read papers such as the one you cite.
The best example of a country awash with guns is peaceful Switzerland. link Even people who don’t technically own a gun may have one in their closet as part of their military service. The same holds for Israel.
While the murder rate in the USofA is higher than it should be, there are countries in the world with far fewer guns and far higher murder rates. link
I saw a report one time that showed the if you removed the top 10 zip codes in the US, the murder rate for the rest compares with the lowest in the world. Those 10 zip codes though compare unfavorably to most war zones.
Those ten zipcodes are war zones where gangs and drug lords hold sway. They are the inner city zones.
commieBob writes: “The best example of a country awash with guns is peaceful Switzerland.”
As a once and perhaps future resident of Switzerland, this comment has always resonated. I’ve never felt safer in any society than I did during the brief years I lived in that country. Some of my Swiss friends believe I’m a fool, that the USA is a much more free society than Switzerland. They criticize they homeland for being far too conservative socially and celebrate the cultural freedom offered them in the US. I suppose everyone has their own tastes, I prefer the honest and open Swiss culture to the increasingly deceptive American culture. There was a time not long ago when I understood what was “right” and what was “wrong”. Now I’m not sure which public restroom to use.
I truly admire the Swiss and if they had emigration laws half as lenient as those of my nation, I might just apply, but I heard recently they denied some Dutch woman citizenship for complaining about the mistreatment of dairy cattle forced to where a cow bell. I’m not sure I’d make the cut since I have strong feelings about only consuming whole milk.
Apologies for the standard homonyms…
This comment re: commieBob, April 27, 2017 at 8:44 am, “For highly emotional issues I discount studies on both sides. I prefer to rely on observations that aren’t likely to be cooked.” I should have mentioned that Lott states he started out expecting to gather evidence in support of the anti-gun position. He found, somewhat to his surprise, that the evidence was strongly in the opposite direction. It’s a credit to him that he didn’t just bury the evidence that was contrary to his preconception, but went ahead and published it.
“many” not “much”…
If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. Besides, you can only shoot one at a time. Maybe you should say “too much ammunition reaching malfeasant entities in the USA”.
One can take fifteen firearms to the range and shoot each one.
That makes for a great day at the range.
Lol! I fish like that.
That makes it a good place to be polite, Marty.
Marty, the goddamn reason we HAVE a USA is because we had too many guns! Should we have used pop guns that shot out a flag that says “bang”? Not.
What will be the reaction when Scott Pruitt reverses the endangerment ruling and declares CO2 not to be an earth destroying chemical compound. In the nineties, working around college students, I was dumfounded by their absolute belief in the global warming.
I wholeheartedly agree those shots were “eco-terrorism.”. Have great fear it will only become worse.
Agreed. It’s a scary thought indeed.
Susan
Hi Susan. Good work on the polar bears. You are a voice in the wilderness it seems. At least CBC interviewed you, although they then allowed your words to be down-graded by that eco-zealot whats his name. Hope more zoologists and biologists speak up against misinformation and environmental propaganda; the real reasons for the decline in the ‘ Mountain Caribou’ population would be another place to set the record straight. I am a graduate of UVIC, 1982, B.Sc. Was sad to see UVIC tolerate the ideological activism of Andrew Weaver, with his alarmism and fanatical promotion of AGW. VERY GLAD YOU ARE AT UVIC AS SCIENTISTS WHO UPHOLDS SCIENTIFIC VALUES, and is not afraid to stand up to those who would pervert science to their own ideological aims. Keep up the good work:))
While I believe the shots were a “message” to us, I don’t think John or I are that worried for our personal safety.
I sincerely hope their personal safety confidence is based on both of them being well trained concealed carry practitioners.
Stay safe, Doctors Spencer and Christy and you, too, Anthony.
And remember, you are being watched over:
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Psalm 34:7.
God is watching over you, just as He is watching over little Israel.
Remember the 1973 Arab-Israel “Yom Kippur” War?
Israel won.
It was a miracle.
Israel is still there. Over 60 years later, she is still there.
God is watching.
God has St. John Moses Browning on His side. I would sell my cloak to buy a sword.
I love the FN Browning 1922 .32 auto my dad bought in Paris in 1945. Has Luftwaffe stamping. Not that sloppy for an occupation production.
While god may have been watching it was the Israelis who were prepared and acted.
I don’t recall any lightening bolts or natural cataclysms aiding the Israelis. Perhaps he was just watching?
The Israeli’s caught the Arabs with their pants down.
Was it good luck, or divine intervention?
Why do you assume that the only way God intervenes is with lightning bolts, etc?
In the Bible there is an example of God destroying an invading army by giving them a disease.
Rocket Scientist,
There were amazing “coincidences” in that war which aided the outnumbered Israelis. Of course, you can still chalk them up to “chance,” but, even if you do not believe that God was responsible, their victory, given the facts about what they faced, was “miraculous.”
The Israelis, were, I agree, very well prepared and acted with their usual skill, bravery, and keen intelligence.
You make a good point, Rocket: it takes faith to attribute their victory to God.
Your WUWT ally for science realism,
Janice
Janice and Mark,
In 1973, the Arabs caught Israel with its pants down. Israel was saved not by divine intervention, but by Nixon. We put our nuclear forces on alert when the USSR started to send nuke-capable FROG rockets to Egypt. We emptied out our NATO arsenals in Europe to replenish the tanks, aircraft and munitions lost or expended by Israel against Egypt and Syria.
No miracles needed. Just a superpower willing to risk it all in support of a state surprised and unprepared.
I guess you could attribute the bad decisions made by Egypt and Syria in the latter stages of the YK war to divine intervention, if you want, but why do that when normal human error explains the mistakes sufficiently.
On the other hand, the Lord provides help for his anointed in many ways. In this case he sent the US to rescue Israel.
In the midst of Nigeria’s civil war (mysteriously known as the ‘Biafran War’ by the MSM) in the mid 1960s, I was with the Geological Survey of Nigeria and learned that Saudi Arabia was hiring geologists. I thought this might be a clever way to get my wife, two kids and I out of a war zone. To attract applicants, they advertised the duties and said exploration included work in an area thought to contain the fabled King Solomon’s mines. A day or two after sending my application letter, I learned the 1967 Arab-Israeli war had broken out and sent a letter withdrawing my application. Both letters would have arrived in Riyadh after this swift campaign (if they had God’s help I guess He wouldn’t have let it drag on) was over. Of course I had no idea, Saudi Arabia was not part of it but I decided, with my wife’s help to just go back to Canada.
MarkW April 26, 2017 at 2:37 pm
Richard M. Nixon as God’s appointed agent of His will on earth. I like it.
God can make use of bad people as well as good people.
On the other hand, according to God’s standards, we are all bad people.
Don’t repair it. Turn it into a monument on climate religious fanaticism. And be sure to hold an annual conference on tolerance and the scientific method.
Sorry, holes or cracks in window glass won’t pass the annual campus fire inspection. At least they won’t here in IL.
Neighborhood BB guns were a nuisance while some of the local kids were growing up.
Every one of those 7 shots underscored this fact:
((BLAM)) — Data
((BLAM)) — is
((BLAM)) — a
((BLAM)) — powerful
((BLAM)) — enemy
((BLAM)) — of
((BLAM)) — AGW.
How about a march led by the AGW camp for no (0) tolerance for any kind of violence or verbal threats against anyone engaged in the climate science debate that has been going on the last 20 years? That would reassure me that we are debating with sane rational people. At least it would be very reassuring right now to hear a condemnation from the AGW camp that nobody that disagrees with them should be subject to violence or threats. If this isn’t forthcoming very soon, then it is implied that they implicitly support violence against their detractors.
There is no real difference between ecoterrorism and just plain terrorism. Both have the same end effect.
Silencing critics of something they don’t agree with, or revenge for some position that is held, is just plain terrorism and should be dealt as such.
I don’t remember anyone condemning that video that showed kids being blown up for daring to question AGW dogma.
There were a few who worried that it might be counter-productive, but that was it.
Another inciteful and witty comment from the all-knowing MarkW!
Were you incited by that? I fear many unsuspecting folks were incited to feel hatred towards those who “question the meme” by those “PSA”s. I think that’s the insight he was trying to interject.
You’d think some good ol’ detective work could at least narrow down possible suspects to be put under suspicion. The type of firearm, location, timing, and motive. I even suspect that whoever did it is the type of person that can’t eat a meal without letting everyone on social media what they are eating, and though they likely didn’t outright say they did this, there is probably some easter egg there to use as circumstantial evidence.
The left is losing, unfortunately, the evidence of this fact has to manifest itself in this manner. Be safe, keep up the great work and Godspeed.
Normally, news of gunfire on a college campus sends the national media into a feeding frenzy.
So is it safe to say that CAGW trumps Gun control as a leftist religious tenent?
Is everyone else as sick and tired of all this liberal crap as I am?………..
Yes. “How long will we have to keep on doing this?!” I sighed as I, once again, looked up the facts about AGW to post here.
HANG IN THERE! 🙂
We’re like the Allies in the winter of 1944. D-day had happened. The war was, truly, “over.”
There was, nevertheless, still a lot of fighting left to do.
Those ol’ enviroprofiteers are fighting against the truth about AGW (i.e., it’s junk science) like fiends because those ol’ windmill and solar and “energy storage” investors see BILLIONS of pounds and dollars (and you name it currency) about to go up in smoke before their beady little eyes.
In the U.K., they are now attempting a blitz on the taxpayer.
In public: “Give the energy rate payers a break!”
In private: “Fork over more tax subsidies — we can’t produce power at these rates!”
1944-45 (winter).
You do know that the thing which is most likely to happen is that someone will escalate to the next step. I hesitate to say anything else but y’all just seem to be taking this all too lightly. We are talking about the left after all and their deranged followers.
The closer AGW comes to dying, the greater the likelihood of violence. The package of insults and calls for crimes against humanity came complete when AGW hit the streets. There are 2 groups within AGW that has more than enough motive. One, are the people who stand to make a lot of money ( nobody kills for money .. do they ? ) Two, the wild eye fanatics who are too emotional to think rationally.
The only reason I think that there hasn’t been more violence besides the hate mail, is that there aren’t a lot of people who believe it, and if they do, it isn’t as bad as it is portrayed, and some that might even think that it’s bad aren’t willing to do anything about it. Out side of convincing political powers, it’s dead last in most people’s priorities.
Maybe next time they will try to take down the fact checking satellites too.
“…the evidence that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is good for life on Earth is not part of their religion.”
Oh sure, next you’ll try to tell us that life on Earth is mostly carbon based.
You are another one of those trouble-making people who try to confuse issues with facts and logic.
Geez.
/(implied cynic)
/sarc
Sorry to hear about such violent harassment, but such hatefulness against skepetics for merely presenting alternative explanations is palpable and has been fomented by some in academia. My family got very nervous that we too might be subject to such hateful attacks after Tripp Funderburk started calling my home. https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/04/13/over-the-top-the-sad-case-of-tripp-funderburk-the-coral-restoration-foundation-international/
My son’s reaction was, “Dont get us killed Dad.”
I’m sorry to hear about that, Jim. You and your family (just telling you, not trying to preach) will be in my prayers, also.
Truth versus lies.
Good versus evil.
At the bottom of most of this evil (AGW): money.
THANK YOU FOR BRAVELY STANDING UP FOR SCIENCE (true science, i.e., “knowledge”).
Thanks!
Jim Steele April 26…..
What a poignant reaction your son had! Take heed Jim. I hope you get to have a long conversation with your concerned son.
Freedom is never cheap!
Best,
Bruce
No, it isn’t, Bruce.
My son fully understands I must and will speak the science as I see it. He is aware of my countless hours spent researching the peer reviewed literature. Nonetheless he is also aware that end-of-the-world nut cases roam the world and being sure to lock the door at night might be wise. He would never suggest I stop blogging about why we must be skeptical. He just got a little nervous about how self righteous fanaticism can sometimes turn bloody.
…Jim Steele….+ 1,000,000,000
It didn’t surprise scientists Christy and Spencer and sadly, I don’t think it surprises any of the people here. It does say much about the hypocrites who profess concern about the planet and the human race but threaten to kill people in the name of their virtue.
This is just part of the intimidation of scientists who have the audacity to apply the scientific method. I’m waiting for these high profile climate scientists who promote the alarmist cause to criticise these actions. I suspect that I could wait a long time.
My experience of lefties and ecofanatics in Britain is that, for all their pious declarations of virtue and love for their fellow men, they were the most dishonorable, back-stabbing, mendacious and duplicitous bunch I have ever met. Truly vile people.
While I worked for SIUE there was an incident where a dean in one of the schools of science received a fake grenade in his mail. The campus police had officers stationed at the school location involved for at least a month while the investigation was completed.
To become a SIUE campus police officer, you must complete the IL State Police Academy training program. Is it like that at UAH?
This need not be about money. It’s just another face of the suppression of truth and speech on the part of the modern day brown shirts-call them the black masks-who have zero problem with an ever escalating pattern of violence to achieve their political goals. By definition, that’s terrorism, and the perpetrators should be treated as such.
“When I was at NASA, my boss was personally told by Al Gore that Gore blamed our satellite temperature dataset for the failure of carbon tax legislation to pass.”
Al Gore is probably still saying that, Roy. You make it difficult for the CAGW promoters to successfully promote their cause. What would we do without you.
This crime really should be taken more seriously by the authorities.
The earlier we crackdown on this violence the better off we will be. Blowing it off, like the local cops seem to be doing, will only encourage more of it. Cracking down, by making it a big public deal, even if they don’t find the actual perp, will tend to discourage the psychos.
If a riot starts to develop, the thing to do is for the police to nip it in the bud early before the crowd really gets worked up, like Mayor Juliani did in New York. Put the small fire out quick, and there won’t be a larger fire. And cracking down hard on demonstrators who get violent will discourage future violent events. There should be NO tolerance for this kind of thing.
That should be Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
They have no case
Pennsylvania has a higher rate of concealed carry than Texas. What possible use is an unloaded gun?
It violates common reporting, but the US has a lower violent crime rate than Canada. A higher homicide rate, but homicide is only part of the violent crime rate.
I was thinking of concealed carry when commenting on unloaded guns. The scenarios for a private individual are different than for the police.
There are studies that most uses of a gun in self-protection do not result in firing the gun, but as the T-shirt slogan states “When seconds count, the police are minutes away”
Why does the fact that other people carrying guns freak you out?
Do you assume that anyone with a gun is seconds away from going postal and killing everyone around him?
The fact is that you are the safest when the law abiding around you are carrying.
The US is very safe. Stay out of the inner cities and the odds of you having any problems are pretty much nil.
The number of people who aren’t right in the head is very small.
The number of those who are dangerous is even smaller.
The number of those who are dangerous and still cogent enough to buy and properly operate a gun is smaller still. Guns are expensive and if you don’t maintain them properly won’t work when you need them. Both of these are not properties often found in those who “aren’t right in the mind”.
You have more to worry about from a stray meteorite hitting your plane on the way here.
In the US, those places with the toughest gun laws are also the places with the highest crime and violence rates. Precisely because in those places, only the criminals are armed.
Criminals with guns you fear.
Law abiding with guns you have no reason to fear.
Forrest,
I spent a little time putting together the worst crime statistics. They aren’t perfect, but they do show that if you stay out of the rundown parts of our cities you are unlikely to be visited by a criminal.
Here are the 25 “most violent” neighborhoods per capita from 2010 and then 2016. First, they lump several property crimes in with the homicide and assaults, so some of these neighborhoods may just be victims of a lot of break-ins, and I really would have preferred to see the more traditional definition of violence represented. Second, some of these neighborhoods are very small and may have suffered from a couple of bad events that spiked their numbers. The neighborhoods from the same cities tend to be in the same vicinity as can be told by the zip codes being either the same or one or two numbers off. Las Vegas has several but they are all away from the strip area in parts of the city with large illegal populations. Atlanta has several in some of the poorer neighborhoods. Chicago has several neighborhoods on the list, also mostly poorer areas. The first list was compiled by ABC news (US) so I have only moderate confidence in it, as they aren’t the worst at twisting data to fit the desired political message, but they are known to do it from time to time. The 2016 list is from AOL news, but the source for both was http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ who are using these news services to try to sell their product.
25: Orlando FL Neighborhood: West Central Boulevard 32805, 32801 299 violent crimes per year (vc/y)
24: Cincinnati OH Moore Street 45210 150 vc/y
23: Kansas City MO Independence Avenue 64106 82 vc/y
22: Atlanta GA Humphries Street SW 30310 119 vc/y
21: Galveston TX Church Street 77550 84 vc/y
20: Cleveland OH Chestnut Place 44104, 44115 156vc/y
19: Memphis TN North Danny Thomas Boulevard 38105 147 vc/y
18: Chicago IL 4000 South Federal Street 60609 202 vc/y
17: Atlanta GA Richardson Street 30312, 30303 119vc/y
16: Winston Salem NC East 21st Street 27105 175vc/y
15: Fort Worth TX East Lancaster Avenue 76102, 76111, 76103 284 vc/y
14: Louisville KY East Breckinridge Street 40203, 40204 226vc/y
13: North Charleston SC Echo Avenue 29403, 29405 233vc/y
12: Memphis TN Florida Street 38106 203vc/y
11: Charlotte NC North Tryon Street 28206 352vc/y
10: Chattanooga TN King Street 37402, 37403, 37408 114vc/y
9: Washington DC L Street SE 20003 240vc/y
8: Las Vegas NV D Street 89106, 89101 392vc/y
7: Atlanta GA Marietta Street 30313, 30303 307vc/y
6: Philadelphia PA North 13th Street 19123 488vc/y
5: Atlanta GA Carter Street 30314, 30313 118vc/y
4: Las Vegas NV North 28th Street 89101 875vc/y
3: Las Vegas NV Balzar Avenue 89106 351vc/y
2: Cleveland OH Scovill Avenue 44104 307vc/y
1: Chicago IL West Lake Street 60612 297vc/y
Data from 2016 at AOL News
25: Chicago IL Winchester Ave./60th St. 60636 234vc/y
24: Chicago IL Wallace St./58th St 60621 125vc/y
23: Detroit MI Mount Elliott St./Palmer Ave. 48211, 48207 153vc/y
22: Orlando FL East-West Expy/Orange Blossom Trl. 32805 228vc/y
21: Cleveland OH Cedar Ave./55th St. 44103 69vc/y
20: Baltimore MD Orleans St./Front St. 21202 297vc/y
19: Chicago IL 66th St./Yale Ave. 60621 527vc/y
18: New York NY St. Nicholas Ave./125th St. 10027 117vc/y
17: Tampa FL Amelia Ave./Tampa St. 33602 179vc/y
16: Philadelphia PA Broad St./Dauphin St. 19132, 19133 199vc/y
15: Little Rock AR Roosevelt Rd./Bond St. 72202, 72206, 72201 242vc/y
14: St Louis MO 14th St./Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. 63103, 63101 262vc/y
13: Springfield IL Cook St./11th St. 62703 229vc/y
12: Dallas TX 2nd Ave./Hatcher St. 75215, 75210 231vc/y
11: Memphis TN Bellevue Blvd./Lamar Ave. 38104, 38126 242vc/y
10: Richmond VA Church Hill 23223 169vc/y
9: Dallas TX Route 352/Scyene Rd. 75210 249vc/y <– adjacent to 12
8: Kansas City MO Forest Ave./41st St. 64110 240vc/y
7: Memphis TN Warford St./Mount Olive Rd. 38108 272vc/y
6: Kansas City MO Bales Ave./30th St. 64128, 64127 220vc/y
5: Baltimore MD North Ave./Belair Rd. 21213 361vc/y
4: Jacksonville FL Beaver St./Broad St. 32204, 32202 47vc/y
3: Miami FL 7th Ave./North River Dr. 33128, 33130, 33136 393vc/y
2: Chicago IL State St./Garfield Blvd. 60609 275vc/y
1: Cincinnati OH Central Pky./Liberty St. 45210, 45214 457vc/y
On another thread, someone pointed out that if you remove the 10 worst zip-codes from the US statistics, the US would be one of the in the world in terms of violent crime.
one of the “safest”
Forrest,
Are you Australian?
All “random acts” of violence, such as “workplace violence”, are judged to be non-terrorist by leftist sympathisers.
Unless one of their own gets hurt.
“In fact, these details miss the big picture of this event. Even if: (1) the bullets had hit the other end of the building, (2) on the first floor, (3) it didn’t happen on Earth Day weekend, and (4) there was no March for Science that weekend, I would still consider 7 shots fired into our building a probable act of ecoterrorism.”
What evidence would change your mind?
Find the guy and ask him.
What a ridiculous question. When a Planned Parenthood office gets firebombs, what evidence would it take to convince you that it had nothing to do with abortion?
A more relevant question is: how many failed climate model predictions does it take to falsify the CO2-centric climate change theory?
Its basically asking what will falsify his theory. Glad you think science is [ridiculous]?
[Or should that have been “credulous”? .mod]
Earth Day march and shots fired at office of prominent climate skeptic calling BS on the whole scheme. Coincidence? I think not.
I’d wait to see the actual report on where the bullets actually impacted and who else’s office was close by.
Ya know do a complete investigation.
@ mosher,
“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action”
― Ian Fleming
How many shots were fired ?
Dr. Spencer,
If UAH doesn’t change its idiotic policy on guns on campus, might I suggest this alternative:
https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.fM40Thj9ACHypqcgHegGHQEsCw&pid=15.1
Air Taser. Handier and longer-ranged than a baseball bat.
Dear Mr. Gardener,
I do hope that you and your wife WILL come to visit us. I can understand your feeling uncomfortable with guns, given your life experience. I hope it will reassure you to know that those carrying guns (police or civilian) never take them out of the holster (or fanny pack or leg strap or whatever) in public UNLESS needed to defend against imminent, great, bodily, injury. A rare (most people never experience such an incident) occurrence. (Yes, there are nut jobs (psychotic in an anti-social way), but you are highly unlikely to ever encounter an armed one — I have not in my entire life of living in the U.S.).
Almost all (I’d say all, but, I don’t know this) those who carry a gun in public are quiet, peaceable, people who have taken a firearms safety course and likely do regular target practice (which makes them skilled at operating their gun safely).
You would have much more to fear here if private citizens were not armed (in home or in public), for gangs and other criminals will always have guns. Note, too, that the majority of the gun homicides are gang-on-gang or like murders.
If it is any comfort to you, “shots fired” is still a relatively rare occurrence in a police officer’s career. If an officer reports from a live crime scene over the radio, “shots fired,” there is an exceptionally strong, immediate, back-up response. It just does not happen very often in most communities.
There isn’t (not that your imagination cannot create something that feels just as horrid) a wild west, trigger-happy, atmosphere ANYWHERE in the U.S. (except in bad, gang-infested neighborhoods — do NOT go there; locals can tell you where they are). Not even in Texas (smile).
I LIKE knowing that there are many quiet, competent, citizens out there carrying a weapon. It makes me feel a bit safer. I like that, even if they can’t stop them completely, there is a good chance that they might stop a bad person from doing more harm.
The key is: COME! Meet us in person. 🙂 That will remove all your fear. Fear, after all, is often, “False Evidence Appearing Real.” Stay a long time! Then, you will have so many America-hours under your belt that you will forget all about the gun thing.
Here are some (I know, I know… just in case 🙂 ) suggestions for your itinerary:
1. Fly into Seattle and enjoy a fun thing right off the bat — you will likely arrive BEFORE you left Australia! 🙂 Let me know and, if I’m still living up here (north of Seattle) I will drive you and your wife to Mt. Rainier National Park (best in July — September) or we can hike Mt. Baker or in the Cascades generally (a great day hike is Sauk Mountain — only about a 2 hour hike (you can do these hikes in good running/tennis shoes) with panoramic views of the valley and mountains all around the whole way up (many trails have you buried in the forest for most of the hike); then, we’ll have Alaskan salmon (or Alaskan halibut, if in late summer/fall) at Anthony’s Homeport…. okay! I can go on about other things to do here (like touring the Boeing Museum of Flight) — just such a pretty area (VASTLY more beautiful than most of California — they have sun — YAY! — but it’s pretty ugly down there, once you are south of the Siskiyous).
2. Rent a car and drive:
Day 1 — Seattle –> Medford, Oregon (gas south of Portland where needed, then, in southern OR, gas at Riddle (really 🙂 ); then, the public rest stop at the Rogue River makes a great dinner break; then, in about 45 minutes (IIRC), you’ll be in Medford to spend the night (Best Western is reliable for affordable quality).
Day 2 — Medford –> Sacramento (and that is fairly close to Anthony’s town….) –> San Francisco (don’t stay in Oakland!) {Note: unlike almost every (every?) other state, the Communist State of California stops you at a border crossing on I-5 (Interstate 5 freeway) about 1 hour (? forgot!) south of their northern border. If you have a pet with you or are carrying fresh fruit or plants, have something to show all is okay (just in case — I didn’t get asked for this for my 2 dogs in 2014).
Day 3 or whatever — IF you are interested, take a day trip up state Highway 101 via Santa Rosa, to see the redwoods, then, west and north, up the coast, on Highway 1. You will see ocean beaches — they won’t be any prettier anywhere else in CA, so, you can save time/gas and not bother driving south for a beach. Southern CA is just an ugly mess, imo, and you can get plenty of barren, rocky, scenery with model railroad trees, sage brush, and cactus, as you drive across Nevada/Arizona.
Day whatever — map out a route to the Grand Canyon and head east/southeast. If you arrive before about June, the north side (higher) will likely have snow/be cold. The southern side is lower/warmer.
And…. on down to TEXAS! (that’s how they think of themselves — and, as they would say, rightly so).
Then, east to New Orleans (pronounced with the accent on the “O,” not the “luhns”). If you ask someone down there for directions and they tell you “Nahrluns” is about an hour down the road, you are nearly there. 🙂
Suggestion: Tell WUWTers your tentative itinerary and let them offer to meet you. MANY of us would love to take you out for dinner/on a tour of local sites/host you in our home. You will find that most Americans (not all, not all, boy howdy <– that's a Texas-type expression) are VERY friendly and hospitable. Please consider any who are not to be mentally ill or recent immigrants from countries where being mean is the norm (or anomalies — in the NORMAL sense of that word!). You have friends all over the country! WORLD, no doubt! 🙂
I have (you can't tell, so I'm telling you!) cut this letter short — getting way too long, I just realized (I get carried away!). If you have ANY questions about any of your desired destinations: ASK YOUR FRIENDS HERE! I have almost diddly squat (another southern-type expression 🙂 — it means: very little) experience travelling the entire U.S..
Oh, that reminds me of my trip to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland in October — it was humid even then! Of course, you don’t want to get there much later, it might snow! Aim for mid-October to see the New England autumn leaves turn and you should miss most of the humidity the east coast is “famous” for. Yes, the beaches on the east coast would be nice in the summer — but, don’t plan on being there for hurricane/superstorm season (~ mid. August — mid. October). If Tom (in Florida) feels like it, he may have you over to his west Florida place — he says its very beautiful. You could winter there!
Congratulations on your retirement and the beginning of a wonderful new chapter!
Your American friend,
Janice
P.S. Look up whatever you are interested in and it will be happening somewhere! There are great steam locomotive train rides, classic auto shows, auto racing, tons of boating and water experiences, and on and on.
Interesting plans. I have never been in Australia, so I have no idea what the roads are like, so one caution on US 1. It is very winding, with a sheer drop on the ocean side for much of the drive. A good number of American tourists from the Midwest or East freak out, and block traffic as they drive so slowly. US 101 is rather pretty, if less than US 1, and a lot less likely to terrify naive drivers.
Be careful making left-hand turns. i have seen Japanese tourists in Hawaii forget what side of the road they are supposed to turn onto.
I never darken California’s doorstep anymore, because they don’t like the kind of guns I own. I spent many years working all over the Northwest and Rocky Mountain states, and took some pictures in my spare time. Some of which have been published regionally and nationally. I thought some of the most beautiful places were the national parks in southern Utah (Bryce, Kholab (sp?) Canyon (northwest corner of Zion), Arches, Canyonlands, and the Tetons in Wyoming. If you make it to the Tetons you can also visit Yellowstone just to the north and maybe even Glacier. As Ms. Moore said Mt. Rainer and its wildflowers are also beautiful along with the moss covered Olympic rain forest and its wild northwest ocean beaches. The waterfalls along the Columbian River Gorge east of Portland and the Oregon beaches the whole length of the state are also spectacular, and thanks to one of Oregon’s early governors (Oswald West), they are almost all publically owned. America has truly been blessed with spectacular beauty in the form of its crown jewels the National Parks.
I read this morning that a single payer health care bill has been passed by committee in California.
The author of the bill admits that they haven’t figured out how to pay for it yet.
To paraphrase my favourite author, “A well armed society is a polite society.” ht to RAH
Among the specifications for high voltage power-line insulators is the ability to survive a direct hit by a specified bullet fired from a specified range. The reason for that peculiar spec is that folks regularly take pot-shots at power-line insulators. They just can’t seem to resist. Another favorite target is car-trains. Railroads equip car-carrying rail cars with side shields now, so the shooters can’t get a bead on that hated Beemer coming down the tracks. Back in the 1970’s, Chattanooga, TN’s first big high rise building proved such an attractive target with its windows all lit up during the wee hours, building housekeeping crews began using flashlights and working in the dark.
While the shoot-up of the UAH building is certainly suspicious for a number of reasons, there’s lots of room for doubt it was related to either the scientists or their work.
But way more than enough suspicion IMO to warrant investigation as an act of terrorism.
Now I am wondering if I should have ever been posting with my real name? It is possible if these nut jobs like the ones I see at Berkley start harassing us commenters here at the worlds most viewed climate blog, on the side of the ‘deniers’ no less, then maybe any one of us will be a target at some point? Remember the wack job that emailed Anthony a few weeks back threatening him with a missile of some sort?
I am hoping that the computer servers that are used here are very secure. Because some of the nut jobs are very good at hacking too. And probably not much of an investigation if we become targets of violent anarchists. Does this mean that the alarmists are now winning if they shut down free and fair speech?
It would be comforting to hear the alarmist camp condemning any use of violence in this debate!
A lot of us stopped using our real, or full names for just that reason.
John and Roy,
Keep up the good work.
Your quiet and calm response to this outrage is to be commended.
I hope that you get some heavy media and political backing to uncover this attack for what it is – a terrorist incident.
Perhaps the key to getting a serious investigation started is to report the event under a different type of rule/regulation (e.g. campus safety of women or minorities). Thus, many a petty bureaucrat knows that they can often ban something they don’t like by finding how it infringes Health, Safety&Environmental legislation.
Reblogged this on Climatism and commented:
“When I was at NASA, my boss was personally told by Al Gore that Gore blamed our satellite temperature dataset for the failure of carbon tax legislation to pass.
So why am I not surprised that our building was shot up?
Because people have been killed for much less reason than hundreds of billions of dollars.” Roy Spencer
—
“…It’s more likely they are religiously motivated, hoping to Save the Earth. Of course, the evidence that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is good for life on Earth is not part of their religion.” A.Watts
Your greatest potential danger on your proposed itinerary is overeating in New Orleans. Don’t avoid Texas, your Aussie accent will make you the hit of the party.
It is worrying that the authorities are not acknowledging what is a clear act of eco terrorism.
In Australia where I live it was the right wing prime minister John Howard who instituted a gun buy back and instituted far stricter rules of gun ownership, after the Port Arthur mass shootings by a deranged gunman. It certainly reduces gun violence by making it much harder to get hold of a gun though whether it reduced overall rates of crime is another question.
The statistics are available. From what I remember, the gun buyback didn’t reduce violence and had a barely noticeable impact on gun violence. Simple reason, criminals ignored the law.
Gun homicides and gun suicides both went down since the buy-back, difficult to determine how much the buy-back was responsible since the rate was so low in the first place.
Please fix this site so the text does not jump around: hard to read.
Ecoterrorism: around 10 yrs ago there were several incidents of terrorism in the midwest related to forestry. A bomb was found outside the forestry school at Houghton MI, another at the forestry school in St. Paul, and the Rhinelander Forest Service tree nursery was vandalized. It appeared that the terrorists thought GMO trees were being grown but of course there was no such thing.
Dr Spencer, Can you or Dr Christie not make a call or send a letter to your nearest FBI agency asking for an investigation?
Has there been any official report to the local/state police, or even the FBI about this?
Andrew Partington –
“It is worrying that the authorities are not acknowledging what is a clear act of eco terrorism.”
Agreed – but if it is not actually reported – surely, little or no blame can be impugned to the Law Enforcement powers that be.
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