From The Daily Caller
4:57 PM 12/28/2018 | Energy
- Michael Bastasch | Energy Editor
- California Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi announced the creation of a House “climate crisis” committee.
- Already far-left Democrats are expressing their discontent with Pelosi’s plan.
- Pelosi announced the “climate crisis” committee after flying thousands of miles to Hawaii.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that Democrats would create a Select Committee on the Climate Crisis in 2019, which will be headed by Florida Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor.
However, Pelosi’s announcement isn’t placating progressives in her party, such as New York Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who support “Green New Deal” legislation.
“This committee, if it turns out that the rumors about it are true, sound about as useful as a screen door on a submarine,” Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent, told The Hill.
“As it’s portrayed it’s going to be completely incapable of solving the greatest threat to human kind,” Trent said.
Pelosi, who’s expected to be elected House speaker in 2019, said there’s “tremendous pressure” for Democrats to make fighting global warming a central part of their agenda in the new year.
Pelosi made her announcement amid a government shutdown after she flew thousands of miles to a luxurious Hawaiian hotel where she was spotted Thursday, according to reports. (RELATED: Nancy Pelosi Vacations In Luxurious Hawaiian Resort Amid Government Shutdown)
The creation of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis is one way Pelosi plans on satisfying progressives without angering incoming committee chairs, like New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone, who want to advance their own climate bills.
“It is with great enthusiasm that I appoint Congresswoman Kathy Castor as the Chair of our new Select Committee on the Climate Crisis,” Pelosi said in a statement issued Friday.
“She will bring great experience, energy and urgency to the existential threat of the climate crisis,” Pelosi said. “This committee will be critical to the entire Congress’s mission to respond to the urgency of this threat, while creating the good-paying, green jobs of the future.”
Pelosi’s climate committee isn’t expected to have subpoena power or authority to advance legislation to the House floor for a vote. If that’s the case, it would be weaker than the previous select climate committee behind the 2010 failed cap-and-trade effort.
“The American people have demanded action to combat the climate crisis, which threatens our public health, our economy, our national security and the whole of God’s creation,” Pelosi said.
“Together, we must protect public health by reducing air pollution, create jobs by making America preeminent in green technologies, defend our national security by preventing climate-driven instability and uphold our sacred moral responsibility to leave a healthy, sustainable future for generations to come,” Pelosi said.
Ocasio-Cortez is leading a small, but growing, cadre of far-left Democrats who back a “Green New Deal” — a vague plan that would mandate the U.S. get 100 percent renewable electricity, universal health care and federal jobs programs.
The “Green New Deal” could end up being the largest expansion of government power in decades. Its expansive nature has some Democrats skeptical if it can even pass out of the House.
Environmental activists stormed Pelosi’s office twice in 2018, demanding a “Green New Deal.” Part of that plan is having a House panel with full committee powers, something Pelosi’s committee is unlikely to have.
Our position, however, remains clear: Any Select Committee on Climate Change will be inadequate without a direct mandate to develop a Green New Deal — a plan to confront the climate crisis at the scale that science and justice tell us is necessary.
— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) December 28, 2018
“Leadership in general is about listening to the voices of the people you’re supposed to be leading and I don’t believe this process incorporated that very effectively,” Trent told The Hill.
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As the cries get ever more shrill, more people turn from them, back to reality.
That was my first thought.
Right now there is record low unemployment. At some point, trying to artificially create new jobs distorts the labor market and harms the economy.
My second thought is that mandating renewable energy will be a huge job killer and they will need a federal jobs program because the supposed new green jobs won’t be sufficient.
My third thought is about those whose IQ is too low to hold down a job. link The province of Ontario (Canad) used to have sheltered workshops where such people could have the supervision necessary to do a useful job. The Liberals killed those because they couldn’t pay minimum wage or overtime. link
You miss the point about Federal jobs programs. When you have a job that only exists because money is stolen from taxpayers and given to you to do something those taxpayers wouldn’t willingly pay for, you become a Democrat-for-life, because the Republicans may cancel the program.
It’s all another vote-buying scam.
It’s a funny old world when it’s illegal to give someone $10 out of your own pocket to vote for you, but perfectly legal to offer them tens of thousands of dollars a year in taxpayers’ money to vote for you.
I like that Scott Adams (and Dilbert) is getting into the debate.
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1079064694428598272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Atan123%7Ctwcon%5Etimelinechrome&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftomnelson.blogspot.com%2F
Tony’s summary of the history of NASA and NOAA changes to the temperature record is excellent.
I can’t resist mentioning that Scott Adam’s NASA link in the above mentioned Twitter discussion leads directly to a NOAA page that I was complaining about in the recent WUWT discussion about “Ocean Acidification”, at https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/12/23/ocean-acidification-background-context/
The NASA link is https://t.co/C4Hwopwpf4 , and the complaint worthy NOAA link that this leads to (in the NASA article footnotes) is http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/What+is+Ocean+Acidification%3F
I’m pretty sure I managed to garble the actual NOAA page link in my postings the last time, so it might be worth mentioning, just for a correction here, EXCEPT —
— when I go to that ever so misleading (or well say, *lying*) NOAA page, “What is Ocean Acidification”, I now get this:
“The website you are trying to access is not available at this time due to a lapse in appropriation.”
As a Canadian, I suppose I shouldn’t chuckle over the removal of an-ever-so authoritative US government page, but, for me it’s a “BOO-YA” nevertheless, even if it maybe only a temporary suspension.
P.S. Just as very quick background, the objectionable thing in the NOAA page explanation was the idea that the roughly 30 percent difference in *pH related ion concentrations*, a ratio change related to each 0.1 unit “decrease” in pH — a technical “true enough” fact — therefore somehow implies a 30 percent *increase* in acidity, no matter if the ending point of the change in pH is acid, base, *pH neutral* even, etc.
David
See my analysis of that 30% claim here:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/09/15/are-the-oceans-becoming-more-acidic/
Thanks, Clyde Spencer, for the comprehensive overview of this issue!
Now, if I also read an article about lysocline chemistry or what have you, maybe I could go get a Phd, (or at least get a “D” on an exam about pH’s).
‘Bye for now.
Heller is funny but not looking forward or extending and stupidly hides any bad results, so he’s equally unconvincing compared to the other links — which contain some moronic simplifications / and even propagandistic style.
Heller debunks hot summer weather in the US is in increase, but that’s a minor part global warming propaganda. He’s also aggressive, and repeats himself ad infinitum.
Well Hugs my man when are you going to make some videos and run a blog that is better than his?
You are a complainer and not not a doer.
This little exchange between WUWT’s English major drive-by commentor and Scott Adams is priceless!!
(even the “your” is worth noting for a chuckle)
🙂
My first thought was ‘she looks like Hillary’.
and has all the charm too
that woman should be booted out not given speakers role
hell, shes not very succinct at the best of times
jobs for life pollies need to be removed
globally theyre the bane of humanity
HotScot,
One can hope that the infighting between the far left socialist democrats, the special interest socialist democrats, and the aging power broker socialist democrats will tear their party apart.
Pelosi offers a cats paw ‘Climate Crisis Crazies Committee’ to the rabid upstarts and gets backhanded smartly! Let the games begin….. er, continue!
What climate crisis ? there is nothing wrong with the climate you funnie bunnies,except the money it generates into Al Gores pocket mm.
Well said!
I am struck by just how wealthy and secure we’ve become as a nation, that we have time (and $$) to “fight” an imaginary “existential” climate “crisis”. We have solved hunger. We’ve solved poverty. We’ve solved disease. Weve solved homelessness.. We’ve solved every affliction known to mankind such that we have $B’s to spend on a Man-ufactured “crisis”.
What do we need? A good old fashioned famine or plague to reset our politicians priorities? Since Nancy Pelosi keeps invoking God and morality, I suggest she consider the sin of utterly wasting resources on a politically-manufactured LIE.
The sin of arrogance ought to be enough. But none so blind as those who don’t want to see.
Shouldn’t that be a Mann-ufactured “crisis”?
It’s said that over 70,000 people in the U.S. died from opiates in the U.S. this year.
So that many fewer generators of the vilest pollution known, exhaled CO2. And we expect the virtuous, entitled Greenies to care?
The “Green New Deal” is a Neomarxist Trojan Horse, written to introduce Marxist legislation disguised as moves to fight climate change. I would take these Democratic Socialists very seriously, and remember that US universities are now controlled by hard core leftists, many of them self declared socialists/communists.
I have been reading their social media and studying the way they link up, and as far as I can tell they are well organized, run tons of linked accounts in platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. I was able to trace their links to German communists who operate in the US as Rosalux Stiftung. And that group is hard core communist, they have ties to the old East Germany party machine, and a couple of their agents working in the US are probably ex Stasi.
My suggestion is that you take this threat seriously, and understand that climate change is their ax. So whatever you do in a climate change debate has to be solid and well measured. I wouldn’t joke it’s a Chinese conspiracy or say the climate always changes, instead I would study what people like Judith Curry and Pielke Junior write about the issue and use that to debate.
What many scientists like Curry and Pielke often talk about is that the second order effects aren’t as bad as they are being portrayed. The first order issue that needs to be addressed and makes all the second order effects moot is the magnitude of the ECS which the IPCC could not be more wrong about if they tried, but in fact, they have tried very hard to obfuscate this fundamental error driving Climate Derangement Syndrome.
The entire range of the IPCC’s presumed sensitivity factor of 0.8C +/- 0.4C per W/m^2 of forcing is out of range of what the laws of physics can support. The actual sensitivity is between about 0.2 and 0.3C per W/m^2 with a theoretical upper limit of 0.35C per W/m^2 which is less than the IPCC’s presumed lower limit.
The typical US citizen has no interest in what J. Curry says and no understanding of the ECS.
They will respond to two messages; telling them that bad things that happen to them are caused by climate change; and showing them the enormous cost in trying to convert to wind & solar energy, e.g., Germany and growing. Alarmists increasingly use the former. Skeptics should use the latter.
Yes co2isnotevil:
At the risk of boring my fellow commentators I repeat: This difference in the Sensitivity factor may be explained easily by the properties of water which is ubiquitous, not only in the oceans and atmosphere but also in plants and animals. The perceived 4% in the atmosphere being merely part of the whole.
At phase change which in practice is a continuing process, the absorbed insolation and upwelling radiation energy is transposed into Latent Heat at CONSTANT temperature. Rather like compression of a very soft spring where the force is converted into strain energy in the spring, rather than being transmitted through the spring. (not a very accurate analogy; but should suffice)
This means that the coefficient in the Planck equation relating energy flux to temperature is equal to zero; leading to a marked reduction in the global Sensitivity which is based on the Planck coefficient.
I submit that this factor has NOT been included in most of the models which purport to arrive at the Climate Sensitivity factor. Hence the divergence.
Other factors such as the resultant buoyancy seem to have been similarly been ignored; but that is a different story.
H.L. Mencken, who was fortunate to have died before the invention of the “climate crisis”. explained it completely when he wrote: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
Yup! Best one-line description of global warming/climate change/whatever they call it next week ever penned.
Project Fear III in the UK, to try and force Parliament to access the May-EU abortion.
What climate crises,there is nothing wrong with the climate,other than the money the dogma generates into Al Gores pockets mm.
This arrived in my email this morning: (its about how to have a Miraculous Life)
Sounds good huh?
I think we know: Become a Climate Scientist
If at all curious, look for ‘Shimoff Morter Garr living-a-miraculous-life’
The real magic & miracles happen when you quit sugar & booze and get some aerobic exercise**
but you knew that
** They seem to create magical miracles (Climate Science for example) but, they are fake.
“making America preeminent in green technologies”
No Lady, it ain’t gonna happen because unless industrialized, any technology is just an archived project. And to this day, history has not reported a viable enforced by state decision taxpayer funded financial model.
So Mrs. Pelosi, at the upcoming New-Year junket, please ask the band to play “No we’re not the jet set”. And pay attention to the lyrics.
Douglas Adams
Macron attempted to radically change things in France a few weeks ago…look how thatbwent down with the folks in France.
Granted the French love their street protests, but methinks that level of pushback is only going to increase throughout the western democracies.
Aren’t a fool and his money quickly parted? As long as there are fools and money.
It takes one tiny spark to light a huge fire. When the right conditions are met that is.
The problem is that these fools are parting ME from MY money, not their money.
Right Mark, it’s a social robbery because those exploiting it are not the fools. Instead:
a) Fools entrusted and gave office to robbers
b) Other fools just watch and lament
I agree about the French protests.If the green deal succeeds , energy prices will have to go through the ceiling.If Germany’s prices today are are indication,and germany has only a small percentage of energy from renewables.
I believe Clinton lost the election when she said she would kill coal jobs.She was pushed to it by Sanders and Mckibbin.
The Putin alienated Bernie supporters in social media dividing the Dems.
I was hoping Trump would actually convey the truth about the global warming scam.But Trump is such a liar,no one believes anything he says anyway.
Trump is so inarticulate he couldn’t begin to make a convincing arguest even if he actually understood the science.
The climate is doing just fine, not that we could do anything about it anyway if it weren’t. If the climate were to start cooling significantly, say to LIA conditions, then the climate wouldn’t be fine. But we would cope, and adapt, not run around shouting that the sky is falling, and that we must sacrifice our economies and our way of lives to appease Gaia.
No, what is in crisis is the CAGW ideology. The Climate Orcs are beating their drums, ready to make one final, desperate assault.
The irony being that, if the Eco-Nazis get their way, we would lack the capability and resources to adapt to a recurrence of Little Ice Age climate, and billions will probably die of starvation. Of course, that is the goal they have, but will never admit to, as long as it’s, you know, those “other” people whose lives must end to achieve the “depopulation” they insist is necessary.
Typical liberal hypocrites, I know a few of them and have one visiting me today, they just do not get it.
Throwing the impertinent upstarts a bone so they’ll shut up.
They’d soon return, demanding two bones.
As long as there’s no meat on the bone, who cares? The power elite in the Dem party sure don’t.
Every campaign needs a progress chart, as in this amount of your money has been spent so far, and this is the net benefit to you so far. Republicans should push for this, and create their own version when it fails to happen –> popcorn time.
How do they get away with calling this an existential crisis? What person is saying we are not going to live if we are a half degree warmer?
Personally I hope the democrats and Pelosi push for “green” like crazy. Explain to the people what 5 billion for a wall is too expensive but 5 billion for green initiatives is not?
More like a hundred trillion over the next 50 years
“‘This committee, if it turns out that the rumors about it are true, sound about as useful as a screen door on a submarine,” Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent, told The Hill.'”
Only because it doesn’t go far enough.
The true crisis will be in 5-10 years to pay for dismantling 10Ks of wind turbines and PV farms, properly recovering their nasty constituents, and restoring the land/environment.
Out of curiosity, how many people expected OCD to say battleship instead of submarine?
~¿~
“a screen door on a submarine,” Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent
Not sure of your point?
SR
For looking who’s knocking at the submarins door from outside. 😀
After flying thousands of miles to Hawaii, Nancy’s broomstick sure must be tired.
No carbon dioxide emissions – methane and hot air only…..
That grotesque affectatious rictus identifies the speaker as an Anglo Saxon politician or celebrity.
We europeans really need to take a lesson from other cultures and mindsets such as Asian or Russian in how to relax the face and communicate naturally without affectation.
A much more ecological alternative to habitually contorting the face to resemble a camel’s scr0tum, then needing to artificially iron out the face with expensive plastic surgery operations and forehead injections of nerve toxin.
Relax your face, Nancy.
Botox prevents such relaxation. As does repeated cosmetic surgery.
As does a soul full of pure evil.
RACookPE1978
…”Botox prevents such relaxation. As does repeated cosmetic surgery.”
Quote: “Botulinus toxin, the most potent neurotoxin yet discovered. A thousand molecules will kill a mouse; there’s enough in a spoonful to kill everyone on the planet……provided no one’s greedy!” F.G. Daldy, Chemistry teacher circa 1958.
Was he kidding??
Cheers
Mike
As soon as we get some cooling the Climate Change Theologians will do a 180. The CO2 will be the root cause of global cooling. They will receive grants from the taxpayers to devise ways to save the planet from the catastrophic cooling. There will only be a 10-12 year time frame to set up a new world order to save us from our selves. Polar bears will be starving because their food moves too far south, coral reefs die because the oceans are too cold, etc. etc. Climate “scientist” can have their cake and eat it too.
I remember the Global Cooling Scare of the 1970’s, and what the activists were demanding then. As the deindustrialization they wanted then to prevent cooling was the same as they demand now to prevent warming, it is the destruction of industrial society they want, regardless of the effect.
As I like to put it,
“When the climate catastrophe du jour about faces 180 degrees and YET the supposed cause (human fossil fuel burning) and the supposed solution (reductions/elimination/”CONTROL” of human fossil fuel burning) remain the same, you know you’re being conned.”
I’m a small govt guy, but these folks should have some liability for the damage they’re doing to the economies of the world, and for the brain washing of my grand kids. Energy poverty is hurting real people caused by regulations being shoved down the throat of the citizens of the world. These “Climate Scientists” walk away with pockets full of money. They should be in jail.
Just read an article in the LA Times on the Camp Fire that wiped out Paradise, CA. It mostly talked about inadequate evacuation routes coupled with planning for the wrong type of fire but it also touched on the inadequacy of fire resistance of structures, lots of highly flammable grasses and a certain type of pine that drop lots of embers down wind, the source of the fire and the propensity to have 100 mph winds blow down the canyons. Seems that if you have a severe fire problem in places like this they should start with the ignition sources (harden the electrical grid), improve the evacuation routes, remove the most dangerous flammable fuels and then, if you rebuild, strengthen the fire resistance of structural building codes. Fighting climate change seems an extraordinarily ineffective strategy. It took 3 major fires, Camp, Tubbs and one other in San Diego before the legislature acted on fuel clearing In late November. And will CARB actually allow the changes to be made as they’ve been a major impediment to forest management practices in the past. Gestures on climate has contributed to the change of state of CA wild fires. Speaker Pelosi should focus on changes that can actually be implemented in her jurisdiction.
Paradise is (was) covered with dry pine needles. Highly flammable. I think that accounted for most of the airborne embers that set houses on fire (that in turn set proximate houses on fire through radiant heat), Trees appear to have not been affected that much; they are too green (wet) compared to the rich load of dry, flammable material.
icisil,
Have a look at a pine tree “candling” in a forest fire.
They are called “evergreens” but the needles of age 3 to 4 years quit, turn brown, and dry. The new needles, back to age 2 or even 3, are green and hide the interior dry ones. Further, the plants produce vapors, more when heated, that will ignite.
Big fires produce strong winds. A burning piece of a tree, or a pine cone can travel a long distance in such winds, land it a heated tree, and the whole thing will “flash” as shown in the photo.
We have numerous Ponderosa Pines. Woodland fire researchers say to trim the lower branches at least up 5 m., and hope burning embers miss the tree, and land on the ground. The ground does have a thin layer of needles, nothing else that will burn.
Didn’t see a lot of candling in the videos/pictures I saw of Paradise. Aftermath showed an amazing number of trees seemingly left untouched. Pine trees even. I can only conclude that they didn’t have much to do with the inferno. Could be wrong, though.
btw, dead pine needles are not going to stay in a tree when the wind is blowing 50+ mph.
“airborne embers that set houses on fire (that in turn set proximate houses on fire through radiant heat)”
How about requiring metal roofs and siding? Or asbestos-shingle siding (sarc)?
Like all Democrats, she doesn’t know enough to care about the future of this country. She just loves a free ride.
Just a privileged Caucasian woman with lots of other people’s money to spend.
Nancy? She is spending her husband’s money, which is under California community property rule, hers. So, she is spending her own money to vacation in the Aloha State.
It’s much more sensible to spend it prior to date of death. The accumulated wealth on this side of that watershed event doesn’t carry that much value to that side. Just saying.
The real money goes in the global warming – excuse me, climate change – scare. And it will do a lot of good to her friends and extended family. This is the only goal.
Ultimately, they will decide just to get rid of humans after all the schemes don’t work. Nice to know I’ve been “recycling” plastic for 20 years just to have it landfilled in China and now Vietnam and Malayasia or worse dumped into the middle of the pacific ocean. Maybe they should focus on that one first.
Have fun getting Trump to sign it, lol.
Wait until she demands her personal jet to fly about. I believe the last time she didn’t want the 8 or 10 seater.Too small for her entourage. But she’s special.
“We have to fix the climate so we can see what causes it to change.”
“The American people have demanded action to combat the climate crisis, which threatens our public health, our economy, our national security and the whole of God’s creation,” Pelosi said.
Really? The “climate crisis” has never polled beyond a blip among “the people”, and it’s ironic that the only time these days that you’ll see a Progressive invoke God is when one is attempting to justify fascism.
“Really? The “climate crisis” has never polled beyond a blip among “the people””
Pelosi thinks she speaks for all the people of the U.S., with the exception of the small group of fanatics who support Trump.
It’s just another delusion afflicting those on the radical Left. They live in an alternate universe where everyone is a socialist like they are, with a very few dismissible exceptions..
“Pelosi thinks she speaks for all the people of the U.S., with the exception of the small group of fanatics who support Trump.”
No, she’s just lying, as usual. She thinks she still controls The Narrative, and anything she says will be reported by the media as The Truth and people will believe it.
Or, perhaps, she knows she has no other choice than to double down on the stupid, so why not? They’ve lost their moderate supporters to the Republicans, so all they can do is keep going further left.
“The American people have demanded action to combat the climate crisis, which threatens our public health, our economy, our national security and the whole of God’s creation,” Pelosi said.
So go ahead and authorize a crash new-nuclear power program—nobody will stop you. Except the greens.
Some politicians desperately want to feel important. Getting involved in wars and grand-standing about “saving the planet” makes them feel world-scale important – in a way that local-scale tasks like renewing infrastructure and tackling corruption don’t.