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.
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“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.
@ur momisugly 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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