The Democrat Party must be the political arm of the Venezuela-zation of these United States of America.
Guest ridiculing by David Middleton
The Republican party is the political arm of the fossil fuel industry
Kate Aronoff
Wed 27 Mar 2019 10.48 EDT Last modified on Wed 27 Mar 2019 15.02 EDTRepublicans are doing everything in their power to kneecap the country’s ability to respond to climate change
For Republicans, the climate crisis is a joke…
[Then the wheels came off…]
[…]
The Grauniad
What do I mean by “then the wheels came off”?
used for saying that things start to fail or go wrong, especially after a period of success
Macmillan Dictionary
They were leading 3–1 at half-time, but then the wheels came off and they ended up losing the game.
Synonyms and related words
To fail, or to stop being successful:fail, founder, languish…
First off… Who is Kate Aronoff and what qualifies her as a climate science and/or energy expert?
Kate Aronoff is Writing Fellow at In These Times. Lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Education
Studied at Swarthmore College
Studied at SOAS
Went to Millville Senior High SchoolActivism
KeyWiki
Former Communications Manager at New Economy Coalition
Worked at Pennsylvania Student Power Network
Former Social Media Intern at New Economy Coalition
That certainly explains her qualifications to write for The Grauniad, but not much else.
Back to her article… She started off very well…
For Republicans, the climate crisis is a joke…
Kate Aronoff
The “climate crisis” (emphasis on crisis) is a joke, a really bad joke. The really funny thing is that idiots like AOC and Beto really take it seriously enough to propose the Green New Deal Cultural Revolution (GNDCR), and wonder why people laugh at them. 42 Democrats voting “present,” 3 Democrats voting “no” and the 2 independents who caucus with the Democrats splitting between “present” and “no” on the GNDCR certainly made me laugh.
However, I take that back, she didn’t start off well, just above the one thing she got right was this:
Republicans are doing everything in their power to kneecap the country’s ability to respond to climate change…
Kate Aronoff
No. Actually it’s the proponents of the Green New Deal Cultural Revolution who are “doing everything in their power to kneecap the country’s ability to respond to climate change” and every other potential problem that might occur over the 21st century. The Green New Deal Cultural Revolution would cost hundreds of trillions of dollars, bankrupt these United States, if not all of Western Civilization, in a Quixotic effort to end climate change.
This would deprive us of the resources we would need to respond to whatever the weather does to us when it ignores the GNDCR. Not to mention the fact that plate tectonics, the Sun, big rocks from outer space and pretty well everything other than our bank accounts will ignore the GNDCR. With luck, the Venezuela-zation of these United States will allow us to freeze to death in the dark before anything really bad happens to us. (/Rant off).
What else did Ms. Aronoff have to say? After blaming climate change for every bad thing that has happened since January 20, 2017, she said our only salvation was to dump capitalism…
Kate Aronoff
By contrast, scientists are unflinching in their recommendations for dealing with the problem: “rapid and far-reaching transitions” in “all aspects of society”, per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Have you ever noticed how people without real jobs are almost always in favor of dumping capitalism?
While the climate crisis may be a joke, idiots with no functional experience at doing anything useful are a grave threat to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”…
With the Green New Deal enjoying 81% support among the American voting public, Senate Republicans’ “no” vote on Tuesday mostly proved how out of touch they are with their nominal constituents.
Kate Aronoff
If that’s true…
Fortunately, the poll cited by Ms. Arnonoff is 100% Edward Maibach horst schist…
In the survey, we showed respondents a brief description of the Green New Deal, which was identical to the first paragraph of this report (above). The description was followed by the question “How much do you support or oppose this idea?”
[…]
Notably, although our description of the Deal accurately provided details about the proposal, it did not mention that the Green New Deal is championed by Democratic members of Congress such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and John Lewis (D-GA).
Gustafson et al., 2018
Here’s the “the first paragraph of this report”…
Some members of Congress are proposing a “Green New Deal” for the U.S. They say that a Green New Deal will produce jobs and strengthen America’s economy by accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy. The Deal would generate 100% of the nation’s electricity from clean, renewable sources within the next 10 years; upgrade the nation’s energy grid, buildings, and transportation infrastructure; increase energy efficiency; invest in green technology research and development; and provide training for jobs in the new green economy.
Gustafson et al., 2018
Basically… Do you want free unicorns? Hell yeah!!!
Young skulls full of mush thought candidate Donald Trump’s tax proposal was great when they were told that it was Bernie Sanders’ proposal…
Pollsters can often obtain whatever results they want, particularly if they conceal or mischaracterize pertinent facts.
I often see this idiotic slogan on T-shirts and bumper stickers…
As Dr. Curry wrote in her brilliant essay, as it pertains to science, “‘belief’ doesn’t enter into it.” You know what else doesn’t care about belief? Reality doesn’t care what you believe either.
Reality Check
It’s a fossil-fueled world…
And there has never been an actual energy transition. We generate more energy from biomass/waste now than when it was our primary energy source. We didn’t transition from biomass/waste to fossil fuels. We piled fossil fuels on top of biomass/waste, then we piled nuclear and renewables on top of fossil fuels…
Energy reality doesn’t care how many people believe in unicorns.
Reference
Gustafson, A., Rosenthal, S., Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Kotcher, J., Ballew, M., & Goldberg, M. (2018). The Green New Deal has Strong Bipartisan Support. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
I repeat my advice: just stop reading the Guardian
(by the way, the article title contains a basic logical fallacy…)
That Democrats can read?
No, that the word ‘not’ is missing after ‘democrats must’. As it is it says that what the democrats are and that that is a true statement. But then the first part must be true too. Which is not intended.
It’s a lot simpler that that.
The title of the idiotic Grauniad article was “The Republican party is the political arm of the fossil fuel industry.” The article goes on to babble about the GNDCR and noted that…
While I didn’t quote this passage in my post, I did link to the article. If someone wants to argue about my characterization of the article, the onus is on them to actually click the link and read the full article.
100% of Senate Republicans voted against turning these United States of America into Venezuela.
93% (42/45) of Democrats failed to vote against turning these United States of America into Venezuela.
So… if the Republican party is the political arm of the fossil fuel industry because 100% of Senate Republicans voted against the GNDCR, then the Democrat Party must be the political arm of the Venezuela-zation of these United States of America.
QED
hmm. That’s still a logical fallacy…
Anyway, since you won’t give up the hard stuff, here’s another one:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/28/global-collapse-in-number-of-new-coal-fired-power-plants
Reductio ad absurdum is not a logical fallacy.
It’s simply a logical demonstration that a statement is ridiculous.
Do you really want me to eviscerate another Grauniad article?
You could also note that more Democrats voted against the GND than voted for it.
You could also note that the Republicans were more unified than the Democrats. All Republicans voted against it. Not all Democrats voted for it.
If someone wants to argue about my characterization of the article, the onus is on them to actually click the link and read the full article.
Well I see your mistake there. You actually think leftists like griff are capable of comprehending what they read. Griff has shown, time and again, that comprehension isn’t his strong suit (as evidenced by all the times he posts links to support his point that actually don’t support it when read and comprehended).
Don, NO democrats voted for it. Most voted “present” to show their “solidarity” in NOT voting for GND.
What is idiotic about that, apart from the fact that most of the people wearing it think it supports their belief in AGW.
All Republicans voted against it. Not all Democrats voted for it.
Actually none of the Democrats voted for it, they were united in *not* voting for it (as there wasn’t a single YES vote to be found) They just weren’t united in how they didn’t vote for it (while most voted present, some voted NO).
griff: “just stop reading the Guardian”
griff” here, read this Guardian article.
Make up your mind laddie.
“Do you really want me to eviscerate another Grauniad article?”
David, that is not even an article, it’s an “opinion piece” for which they have virtually no editorial standards.
If you want to spend the time taking something apart, at least attack something they are pretending is journalism, not opinion.
Griff:
Some of the best advice I have seen you give here. I only read it to send them emails to pull them up about the crap and false information they publish and demand corrections.
An opinion piece is a type of article.
Does the Grauniad have any articles that even pretend to be journalism? Granted, I only read Grauniad articles that show up on Real Clear Politics, Energy and Science… They all fall into the Billy Madison-stupid category.
PULLLEZE do … every chance you get, You do such a great job of it AND it annoys the Griff.
If voting present shows unity, wouldn’t voting Yes show even more unity?
Leftists can read. It’s comprehension that they have issues with.
If Trump would keep his FUC____ mouth shut he would be a lot better off!! Take his twitter and shove it up his a–.!! He is a loud mouthed ass—-!!
It’s not Trump that is demonstrating the art of bitterness here.
93% is close enough to “must be the political arm of the Venezuela-zation of these United States of America” for title purposes.
Makes sense to me.
David,
It is a little shy of the magic 97%.
griff: “I repeat my advice: just stop reading the Guardian”
If it weren’t for people like David Middleton who read the Grauniad for the entertainment and WT?!? factors, it would have no readership at all. It appears that too many have taken your advice.
I try to limit my exposure to the Graunaid to no more than one article per day, otherwise this will happen…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEkWH8DB7b0
And Kate Aronoff merits at least 42 Billy Madison’s.
I read a few lines once. At least I thought, they have an editor who understands the English language.
Politics. philosophy, science, economics, engineering, the environment, the EU? Not so much
But they do write good English.
PS that should be in English Englsih, “venezeulisation
We burgle here, we do not “burglarise”.
In the past we said ‘in future’, not “going forward”.
Fags are cigarettes and schooboy servants
Faggots are bundles of sticks or a meat loaf
And Gay is Happy or Joyful
and Queer is Strange in appearance
Griff,
No you have to know what idiot ideas the greens are coming up with. So unfortunately that means reading their biased, illogical propaganda
The wife get the Grauniad every day (apart from Sunday when the diatribe continues in the Observer) and believes their content. I learned long ago not to discuss Climate Science in our house. When her mind is made nothing will shift it
A logical fallacy in a “guest ridiculing” article? ROFL. Do you know how humor works? I bet you’re fun at parties.
no way of telling if he is fun parties … no one invites him.
(griff didn’t even get invited to the chickenpox parties … )
Well, if we were to stop reading the Grauniad, I guess we could substitute the GoComics website for a laugh.
griff knows that he can’t defend the Guardian, so he proposes that instead we stop reading it so that he doesn’t have to.
Yes, about 80% of the Developed world’s high quality of life is powered by traditional fuels of coal, oil, gas and nuclear. The “Greens” are uninformed and ignorant of science and the true facts. Americans and those citizens living in the Developed Countries use about 325 million Btu’s per person per year. Btu’s used for “Heat Engines” and heating, cooling, cooking, transportation, manufacturing, water treatment, commerce and manufacturing. As you laid out the credentials of the author criticizing fossil fuels Kate Aronoff is Writing Fellow at In These Times. Lives in Brooklyn, New York. She should try camping in equatorial Africa (or anywhere on the planet for that matter) using no fossil fuels and only a solar panel.
Education
Studied at Swarthmore College
Studied at SOAS
Went to Millville Senior High School
With two solar panels and a roll of duck tape, she could make a lean-to.
As long as you have duct tape, you don’t need the solar panels.
“The handyman’s secret weapon.” ~Red Green
If it moves and it shouldn’t, duct tape.
If it doesn’t move and it should, WD40.
If you don’t have duct tape and WD40… If it moves, pick it up. If it doesn’t move, paint it… 😉
You will both starve. Says my cat. The only really important question is: when can I eat it, when it moves or when it doesn’t.
David, that sounds like Navy regs.
@Pop Piasa
No, the Navy “reg” is ‘if it moves salute it, if it doesn’t paint it.’
David, you’re going to strain a groin muscle if you keep kicking these idiots, even though they deserve it. Ms. Arnonoff reminds me of a BLM (the other one, not Black LM) biologist sent to search for nesting raptors where we had obtained a helicopter-supported drilling project permit on the west side of the Panamint Mountains in California. She arrived with a metal folder complete with Sierra Club, Earth First, PETA, etc, stickers all over it. The helicopter pilot asked me what kind of a ride I wanted and I said, “walk on the pedals and keep dumping the collective, I want her barfing in no less than 10 minutes”. Mission accomplished in less than 10 minutes, drill project completed afterwards with zero environmental impact.
Now that’s funny!
LOL. Reminds me of when our group flew to another city via a small chartered twin prop. I ended up in the co-pilot’s seat, and after we were well on our way the pilot asked me if I wanted to take over. H3ll yeah! On the way back after we got off the ground he told me to take over. I was having a hard time keeping the plane smooth and after a while the pilot said he needed to take over because someone in back was having a hard time. I looked back and saw that the project leader, who I absolutely couldn’t stand, was sitting in the end seat, and had turned a shade of green and looked ready to puke. I cherish that moment.
You know what they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get groin injuries.
Ron et al.
I once gained hero status with the pilot of a light plane. I’m prone to air sickness, which is why I didn’t pursue a career as an astronaut (Nobody told me that ALL astronauts suffer from the affliction!) I was sitting in the co-pilot seat when I started to get sick. Indeed, I upchucked, but managed to re-swallow everything. The pilot (as well as the passengers) was eternally grateful for not spewing all over the cockpit. He then gave me the controls to keep my mind on flying instead of re-animating my lunch.
‘Have you ever noticed how people without real jobs are almost always in favor of dumping capitalism?’ Without capitalism she would be digging ditches. It always amaze me that people who are bent out of shape to end capitalism relied on capitalism to get where they are in life. I guess they don’t want future generations to have what they have unless future generations sell their soul to the company store.
Is her name really Ah-on-off?
Clearly the Guardian is on a mission to fail. It is doing splendidly so far. Just a few more months should see it gone, unless the BBC keep finding novel ways to support it…..
The GOP Your bulwark against insanity
Republicans We are sane
Republicans Preventing national Suicide
Republicans Defending The Enlightenment
None of those seem right. We’ll keep working on it
Republicans… Incompetent, but benign.
Republicans… Because we don’t suck nearly as badly as Democrats.
Republicans… Far less hostile to individual liberty and prosperity than Democrats.
Republicans… Because we aren’t Marxists.
Republicans… Because climate change… We’ll mostly ignore it.
I’ve been suggesting:
Republicans…If you like your job, you can keep your job.
Hits home on numerous fronts,
your are way better
I so frequently see evidence that Democrats are logic impaired that I have to wonder if that isn’t the reason that they ARE Democrats!
“Republicans Defending The Enlightenment”
Well, except for the religion part.
The faculty and students at Swarthmore have comprehension difficulties with concepts as difficult as pronoun use. I’m sure there are many exceptions, past and present, but that is a weird school.
I notice that is says she “studied” at Swarthmore, not that she graduated.
I’ll concede the Swarthmore part. Studied? I need something more convincing than this article.
GND 0-57
No joke there.
Stick it with a fork
I was sorry to read that Germany is starting to wake up to reality regarding energy production. They have hurt themselves, but not crippled themselves. And I suspect we need a more serious example than what has been provided so far.
Strange title.
To fix Venezuela-zation just give Bolton a call, and he will order the GOP to invade the …USA.
I thought Trump said no more regime changes? Imagine Putin saying “Bolton, hands off the USA”!
I don’t think anyone is daft enough in Venezuela (except maybe GOP puppet Guaido?) to come up with the complete hogwash of the GND – that’s made in the good ol’ USA, backed with British “studies” of course.
You really do have a one track mind when it comes to the US.
BTW, what about Putin actually sending in troops to support the government against it’s own people?
Science also does not care how many initials hang off the end of your name or how many pseudo-scientific, handwavium, crap papers you and your cabal of daisy-chained sweetie pies got peer reviewed and published.
Science cares that you did the homework, followed the rules and got it correct.
Oh my!!
“Biblical flooding in the Midwest…”
And Grauniad links the NYTimes, to an article totally devoid of any gods whatsoever, which contains the insight that; “It has to do with precipitation falling to the ground”.
I’m telling you David, we have absolutely NO right to deny what these folks are trying to teach us about climate.
It had everything to do with rain falling on FROZEN ground, which normally by that time had thawed, but selected-fact journalism dirties the entire profession.
The MSM obviously contracted viral bias from progressive scientists, who were exposed to infected politicians, like “Strife-oid Albert”, who’s contaminated the entire world via jet plane travel.
The problem now is that the bias virus is being injected into the public, labeled as vaccination..
…and now for something completely different…
I propose the verb “Venezueling” rather than the clunky “Venezuela-zation.” Especially since it contains “wailing.”
Wouldn’t that sound like a hog call?
Is someone claiming scientists have no beliefs?
They are belief-less, therefore they are?
Wow! Makes Newton’s hypothesis non-fingo look like alchemy … oh wait!
“What do I mean by “then the wheels came off”?”
Also known as “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory”
In modern vernacular it is called “pulling a Hillary”.
David,
I hadn’t seen the Axios graph (1) you posted before. Thanks for highlighting it. It certainly puts the amount of energy, and there sources, into perspective.
If you are in SF later today you might find a seminar entitled- “Solutions for a Carbon Neutral World” (2) of interest as Dr. Foley will be talking about-
“Now is the time to look at atmospheric carbon as the opportunity of the century — carbon and its compounds are a free, abundant resource, already used generously by the Earth’s biosphere and now looking for more industrial applications. Governments are ready to spend on carbon, and consumers are willing to pay a premium for products made with captured carbon. Agricultural opportunities are endless when matched with the right business models and funding structures. Kelp and algae farming are about to go big. New materials are waiting to be built. To get to a carbon-neutral world faster, we need new technologies. Let’s become miners of the 21st century. It’s a land (air?) grab waiting to happen!”
1) https://www.axios.com/despite-renewables-growth-there-has-never-been-energy-transition-e11b0cf5-ce1d-493c-b1ae-e7dbce483473.html
2) https://impact.tech/carbon
Since I’m currently in Houston and will be heading to Dallas this afternoon, the odds of me being in San Francisco later today (or ever) are kind of slim.
This sounds interesting…
But… They don’t seem to have a slot for CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR), the only economically viable CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage) technology.
“and consumers are willing to pay a premium for products made with captured carbon”
Actually, this consumer isn’t.
As with most things “Green”, many will mindlessly support the idea, but recoil in horror when asked to put their hand in their pocket for a donation to the cause.
Funny thing about reality… It doesn’t work this way:
No one pays a premium for oil produced from SACROC or any of the other CO2 injection oil fields.
Would the Only Economically Viable CCUS tech be planting Trees??
CO2 injection for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is extremely viable CCUS technology that’s been in use since the 1970’s. Off the top of my head, about 300,000 bbl/d of US oil production is due to CO2 EOR. With sustained oil prices above $80/bbl, billions more barrels of oil become economically recoverable.
All that might be useful after we reach the ideal CO2 level for the maximum greening of the planet, but historically the sinks have always caught up and surpassed production anyway. Given the percentage of the total atmospheric GHGs that humans can create even at “full-tilt”, the sinks can catch up in a (geologically) short period, particularly during the next few coincidences of negative ocean cycle SSTs world-wide, as was seen in the ’60s – ’70s and previous cycles, less well-documented.
Sorry to be nitpicking,
But the SST going negative may in its own not influence the CO2 flux forcing anyway…as far as I can tell.
The balance between sinks and emissions does not solely depend in the SST state, but it depends on the ocean atmosphere thermal coupling,
which in context of SST, it will depend on the SST atmosphere thermal coupling tension.
Meaning, that if SST in negative, but also the atmospheric thermal state in a negative also at the same time, then not much change to be expected in the equilibrium factor between sinks and emissions for the CO2 flux.
It simply is a matter of fact in the means of variation in context and reliance to couplings and integrations among variables…in a functional system.
as per my understanding.
Simply meaning, that if looking and considering selectively only and one variable, like the SST in this case, may not actually help, but also may be misleading, very much so…I think.
cheers
I’m here to learn, so I’ll study more on that. Thanks, whiten. 👍
The sinks did catch up during the mid-20th century cooling…
MacFarling-Meure, C., D. Etheridge, C. Trudinger, P. Steele, R. Langenfelds, T. van Ommen, A. Smith, and J. Elkins (2006), Law Dome CO2, CH4 and N2O ice core records extended to 2000 years BP, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L14810, doi:10.1029/2006GL026152.
This audacious young, would-be muck-raker should consider that union workers comprise the Working Arm of the FFI. That considerably muddies her scoreboard of voter demographics. Union workers are left to weigh Dem party loyalty against maintaining job security at middle-class wages. Many are already voting against the progressives and Justice Dems, and standing in the DMZ on the edge of the “enemy camp”.
If an aspiring journalist wants to be true to the craft, then write accounts of actuality, and avoid editorial speculation.
And by extension … Democrats are trying to kneecap the fossil fuel industry … kneecap the essential energy source driving our economic freedom, indedpendece and wealth. I suggest the Democraps stop attempting to kneecap fossil fuels … and simply stop using all fossil fuels. I encourage EVERY Democrat to go completely OFF the grid. Cover your property in solar panels and savonius rotors. Power your Tesla from these “renewable” energy sources. I have done NOTHING to kneecap Democraps voluntary decision to use inefficient, and unreliable energy sources … for themselves. Just leave the rest of us the hell out of your dumb personal decisions.
Frustrating that all those devices required for “off-grid” affluence depend on fossil fuels and rare earth resources for their production. 😖
And … from what I understand … most solar panels need “renewing” every 10years more or less, unless you have so many of them that you can sustain the loss of efficiency with age. Thus … more mining of rare materials, manufacturing, and shipping.
You can bank on them not making enough power to reproduce themselves during their usable lives.
They have a reasonable niche, just not as a fossil fuel substitute.
‘The Democrat Party must be the political arm of the Venezuela-zation of these United States of America.’
The Fourth Reich.
Nice t-shirt.
“Science doesn’t care what you believe (but at a certain level, down really really deep, it does care if you are paying attention)”
The really sad part is that liberals seem unable to distinguish the difference between fraud and science.
But will always fall for the theme that government promotes.
Keynesian economic notions became dominant because they have been used to enhance the power and wealth of the state.
CAGW has been promoted because it enhances the power and wealth of the state.
The audacity that a committee can “manage” the temperature of the nearest planed is amazing.
Amazingly, the average working person has never heard of Karl Popper or Richard Feinman, much less know the legacy they left to the proper practice of scientific study. Compare the NASA channel to ESPN’s viewers during the spacewalk tomorrow and I think you’ll see where America’s interest lies.
Obama’s vile comment “you didn’t build this” was almost right. He should have said “we didn’t build this” meaning him, AOC, Saunders, and the rest of the Democrat ilk. None of them have done anything to create wealth, only confiscate it from those who do and give it to those who don’t.
“And an ex-bartender shall lead them”
I wonder when all of those scientists, sucking on the public teat, busy telling us the end of the world is coming through climate change will wake up to the fact that if they destroy our economy there will be no more public teat. Likewise if the lefties win this fundamental battle of ideas, they won’t need the scientists because after all climate change explains everything. Therefore no need to pay for climate change scientists and they’ll probably be placed in the equivalent of the Russian Gulag is just to keep them out of the way and stop them being a nuisance. Reality is a bitch.
We really ought to stop insulting liberals in this manner. Most of the individuals who believe in CAGW are Progressives or Communists; a true liberal believes in individual rights and freedom, not collectivism. As a libertarian/anarcho-capitalist, I prefer the minimum level of government to ensure the protection of our liberty and prosperity. The CAGW movement, being one wing of the Progressive religious cult, is not a liberal plank; but rather a statist one. Since natural sequestration appears to be lowering carbon dioxide levels to the point of plant starvation, perhaps we should say that the Republican Party is trying to save life on Earth, while the Demoncats wish to bring back the Stone Age.
I tend to agree with you.
A great explanation for those who are unaware of the original meaning of “liberal”. On occasion I have been asked my political allegiance and the response “None, I am a liberal” causes confusion. “So you belong to the Liberal Democrat Party, then?” (A small centre-left UK party which is neither liberal nor democratic.) Then follows an explanation of libertarianism and the fact that the Overton window has moved so far to the left during my adulthood that I have no political allegiance, I just go with whoever is going to govern with least infringement of my personal liberty. Believe me there’s little enough of that in the UK/EU at present.
The Democrats are the party of schoolchildren. They enjoy hearing fantasies and throw tantrums when the truth is exposed to them.