Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Aussie press demonizing Senator Joe Manchin, the lone Democrat who opposed President Biden’s Green New Deal Build Back Better.
The coal man with the fate of the world in his hands
By Nick O’Malley
January 23, 2022 — 9.00amThis month around the world those most engaged in the desperate fight to cut fossil fuel emissions in time to prevent the very worst impacts of global warming are watching one man: Joe Manchin, a Democratic senator for West Virginia. A coal man.
“What would you tell Manchin if you were sitting down with him today?” I asked the Australian climate scientist and physicist Bill Hare, a man who knows about as much as anyone about global climate politics
“I’d tell him he has history in his hands,” says Hare.
The American political veteran John Podesta, a key counsellor over the years to Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and now Joe Biden and his climate envoy John Kerry, was more blunt in a recent Rolling Stone article.
If Joe Manchin does not cease his opposition to crucial climate policy now being championed by Biden, “we are all f—ed”.
Podesta was not talking about the Democratic Party, nor even the United States, but the world.
On Thursday, the leading climate scientist and advocate Michael Mann said he shared the view, telling the Herald and The Age the need to rapidly decarbonise was now so acute that the decisions made by individuals in power at present, and by Manchin specifically, could have profound implications on all of us.
…
Today even the coal unions which once backed Manchin’s dedicated support of their industry have lost faith.
“We urge Senator Manchin to revisit his opposition to this legislation and work with his colleagues to pass something that will help keep coal miners working, and have a meaningful impact on our members, their families and their communities,” said United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil Roberts, a long-time ally of Manchin’s, in a statement four days before Christmas.
…
Many, including those quoted in the excoriating Rolling Stone profile, have noted that Manchin’s vast family fortune comes not from toiling in mines but from trading in energy produced by burning the dirtiest form of fuel used in the region, a coal waste product known as “gob”.
…
Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/the-coal-man-with-the-fate-of-the-world-in-his-hands-20220121-p59q20.html
So long as China and India continue to expand fossil fuel capacity at breakneck speed, so long as Africa and other poor nations are leaping onto the coal bandwagon to finally break free from centuries of poverty, nothing President Biden or Joe Manchin does will make any lasting difference to global CO2 emissions.
So why demonize Senator Manchin?
Demonizing Senator Manchin is irrational, but I believe the most extreme climate activists in their despair have moved well beyond reason.
What I believe we are seeing is the final collapse of the climate movement. The last holdouts in the bunker are screaming impotently at each other and and the world, pointlessly arguing over whose fault it was, as the inevitable day of reckoning approaches.
Senator Joe Manchin is no fool, he gets it. With coal making a huge comeback even in green Europe, and the USA sitting on the largest share of the world’s coal reserves, and West Virginia sitting on a sizeable chunk of those world class US coal reserves, it would be the height of insanity to shut down US coal production just as the party is getting started.
This will be a great year to be a climate skeptic.
Correction (EW): h/t Danny T Davis – West Virginia, not Virginia 🙂
Correction (EW): USA has 22% of the world’s coal reserves, so I corrected “most of the world’s coal reserves” to “largest share”.
Noting your opposition is honking mad is a good place to be. Someone really should ask Mann, Schumer, or AOC how the Energiewende is working out in practice, and why the bleeding hell should the US follow such a failed initiatitive?
Excellent comment
Unfortunately they have what they consider a good answer to that question. Namely that the present crisis is a temporary error due to underestimating the variability of wind power. Building a lot more wind power solves the problem (they say).
Given that 48 or 49 Dem Senators want BBB I do not see this as evidence of the collapse of climate madness. Quite the opposite unfortunately.
Correction, there are 48 or 49 Dem Senators who want to keep getting money and support from the DNC.
“The coal man with the fate of the world in his hands”
Yep 🙂
Let’s go Brandon!
I thought the laughs started at asking an Australian Climate Scientist 🙂
Was Mikey not available? Perhaps he was out pushing his new sex god and worlds greatest climate scientist persona on all the up and coming Gretas.
Last paragraph:
Not Virginia – it’s WEST “by God” Virginia.
West Virginia holds about 6% of the US coal assets
Fixed, thanks 🙂
When I was growing up in northwestern Virginia (Just a quick drive to WVA), West Virginia was the butt of many jokes, about inbreeding and toothlessness mostly.
Depends on which side of borders you lived on. KY, OH (southeast), WVA, VA.
(But I must admit one of my favorites is:
Why did O.J. Simpson want to move to West Virginia?
He heard that everyone’s DNA was the same there.
Dated, but good.)
Manchin wasn’t the only Senator who helped sink BBB, but the full truth is more nuanced. Manchin and Sinema weren’t against many of the individual pieces of BBB, but they believed there was too much waste in the whole package.
What they DID torpedo was removing the requirement that the bill receive a supermajority of 60 votes to pass.
It’s strange that a requirement to have 60 votes to pass could be removed by a mere majority vote, but that’s politics.
Don’t’cha know – when you’re a Democrat/leftist, ya gotta break the rules to change the rules! And if you can’t get your way with the existing rules, ya gotta change the rules!
The 60 vote requirement is to end a filibuster not to pass legislation. It is a rule of the Senate which only requires a simple majority to change. The old rule was 2/3 of the Senate, 67 votes, to end a filibuster but that was changed to 3/5, 60 votes, in 1975 when Democrats had 64 Senators and used the lower requirement to pass their agenda.
Thank you.
Democrats will do anything, even beg, borrow and steal, to get their agenda enacted
I had thought a rule could not be changed except at the beginning just prior to the commencement of a new Congress. So I looked it up in the Senate rules and I was wrong, in a sense. One can make a motion for cloture which would be taken up and the next day vote on the motion and requires a 2/3rds vote (60) but a further motion can be made to amend (meaning change) that rule in which case the votes requires a 3/5ths vote (67). Here’s the excerpt:
2.(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of rule II or rule IV or any other rule of the Senate, at any time a motion signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate, the Presiding Officer, or clerk at the direction of the Presiding Officer, shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the clerk call the roll, and upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question: “Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?” and if that question shall be decided in the affirmative by three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and worn—except on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules, in which case the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and voting—then said measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of.
(5) As amended by S. Res. 28, 99–2, Feb. 27, 1986.
Note this was last amended in 1986. Also note, I took this from a pdf I retrieved from the senate-dot-gov webpage today, so it should be how the Senate is working now.
Now the rule book is pretty big and I searched XIX Debate and found nothing but did find the motion for cloture in XXII Precedence of Motions by doing a Debate word search, so I don’t know if there is some other way to drop cloture to a mere majority, but it isn’t allowed via the chapter on debate. Also searched cloture and found nothing.
It should also be remembered that the Senate was originally to represent the Governments of the States, selected to run by the Governments of the States, with staggered 6 year terms to put a brake on mob rule.
That was a good thing.
Yes, absolutely. The 17th amendment has done tremendous harm, unfortunately.
And that was passed under the false notion that it would be “more democratic”. Same notion being spouted by today’s liberals on voting.
Not quite true.
BBB fell under “reconciliation”, which means, it needs only 50 votes to pass.
The final vote was 48 to 52, with Democrats Manchin and Sinema voting with all 50 Republicans.
“Reconciliation” is a specific Senate rule designed to allow budget bills to be passed without the 60 vote requirement needed for other legislation. This keeps the budget largely out of the realm of being vetoed by the minority. That said, the “Build Back Better” legislation was chock full of other things not directly related to the budget, such as changes for illegal immigration, and all the climate change stuff. The Senate Parliamentarian disallowed the sections of the bill related to immigration, though the Democrats tried three times to wordsmith them such that the changes to immigration law looked like budget measures. And three times they were rejected as not eligible for inclusion under “Reconciliation” rules.
The 60-vote rule is just that, a Senate Rule, not part of the Constitution. Both the Senate and House adopt their own rules, according to the Constitution. It is not a rule that it takes 60 votes to pass legislation, but that it takes 60 votes to END DEBATE on proposed legislation, called a vote on Cloture. Only after a vote to end debate passes can the vote to pass the actual legislation take place, so the Cloture rule can effectively stop legislation from proceeding to a vote. That’s called a filibuster when one side decides to stop legislation via Cloture.
Both sides have used it extensively, but the Democrats far more often than Republicans. And Democrats tend to want to change the rule more often.
Changes to the rule can be made by a majority vote, since it is the Senate’s sole decision as to what legislative rules they wish to abide by. So it is a big thing to change it, because the majority makes the change to eliminate the capability of the minority. That can come back to haunt the majority when they become the minority after the next election… That’s exactly what happened the last time the Democrats changed the Senate Cloture rules. During the Obama administration, the Republicans filibustered many/most of Obama’s nominations for Federal judges, obviously deemed way too liberal, but part of the political process of give and take whereby some judges would be approved and others not, etc… Tiring of that, the Democrats, by majority vote, changed the Senate rules so Cloture for the confirmation of Federal judges only required a majority vote, and therefore also to confirm Obama’s judges. Such a change, eliminating the 60-vote Cloture, is called the “nuclear option”, as it blows up the delicate and time-honored provision for debate in the Senate.
Turn-around is fair play, however. When Trump and the Republicans returned to the majority, they used that Democrat rule change to quickly fill hundreds of open Federal judge seats that normally would have crawled through the previous Senate confirmation process. In addition, when the Democrats used the filibuster to stop Trump’s first nomination to the Supreme Court, the Republicans went one step further, and added Supreme Court justices to the exemption to Cloture that Democrats had made for Federal judges. Hence, all three of Trump’s nominations passed by simple majority.
Thanks, BobM. That’s illuminating.
But I bet Trump is regretting at least two of his Supreme Court appointments.
Bob,
That is a great explanation.
I will save it for my files.
Here is an EXCERPT from my article on the BBB bill:
“BUILD BACK BETTER” WOULD COST $4.490 TRILLION OVER THE NEXT DECADE, IF PROVISIONS WERE MADE TO LAST 10 YEARS
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/build-back-better-would-cost-3-95-trillion-overt-the-next-decade
I am not surprised at the lack of public trust in Washington, DC, and elsewhere. The games of smoke and mirrors played in Washington are off-the-charts outrageous.
Never, ever, has there been such a level of deceit, as Democrats have inflicted on the US People, since January 2021, using a controversial election in 2020 (see Appendix), to obtain government power, to relentlessly implement:
– An increased size and intrusiveness of the federal government
– A major change in US demographics by means of just-walk-in, anybody-is-welcome, open borders
– Increased Democrat command/control over the federal government and the American people to “Remake America”
– Increased Federal government control of elections, which is specifically forbidden by the US Constitution
However, Dem/Progs made a major mistake.
– They intended to use top-down, command/control of the very-inefficient federal government to very-expensively “Remake America”.
– Their strategy is a highly un-American approach, significantly different from the history of US economic development.
– They never mentioned the words “private enterprise”.
In contrast, Trump’s “Make America Great Again” specifically did not rely on government. MAGA relied on:
– Eliminating business-stifling government rules and regulations
– Freeing up the creative energies of the American people
– Putting America and the American people first again, within secure borders
Biden wants to pass smaller parts of this BBB bill.
If the Green New Deal comes up for a vote in the senate, I know that there are some Republicans who believe in the climate change religion. And all the democrats believe in it!
Technically, it isn’t “60 votes to pass”. It’s 60 votes to end debate and move to the vote.
too much gossip rag.
Safe space for us dudes.
My first thought was “who is Bill Hare”. Climate scientists sprout everywhere.
Lee, this Quadrant article tells you all you need to know about ‘Dr’ Bill Hare
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/tony-thomas/2019/04/doctor-hares-nasty-green-prescriptions/
I wonder if Nick O’Malley knew of all that 🤫.
Interesting. They did get this bit right “I asked the Australian climate scientist and physicist Bill Hare, a man who knows about as much as anyone about global climate politics”. Not the science but the politics.
Bill Hare graduated from Murdoch University (WA) in physics and environmental science.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate of science by the university in 2008:
“Murdoch graduate, physicist and environmental scientist Bill Hare is a leader ininternational environmental policy development on climate change and ozone depletion.Since 1992 he has been Climate Policy Director of Greenpeace International and led its contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol negotiations.Prior to his Greenpeace appointment, Mr Ha re was Research and Policy Director for the Australian Conservation Foundation His climate change activism and political acumen have seen him described as“the best climate lobbyist in the world”.
Physicist? Really??? What a hack!
“Climate Policy Director of Greenpeace International” tells you all you need to know.
I forgot to add: like Dr Mann he is also a Nobel Prize recipient.
We all share in that honour. I’ve put it in my CV and it works wonders.
Waaaah, I want one. I still have a UK passport, as I did before Brexit. Can I have one too, pretty please.
Just go here.
Ha ha
But, you have to pay for the oil change, so it’s not free. I hate weasel marketing words.
A small price to pay to be Presidential. You don’t have to leave your zipper down to be Presidential with this option.
Demonizing Senator Manchin is so idiotic that, like the exploitation of Greta Thunderbird and pressure to eat insects, it is a sign of the final irrational disintegration of the Climate Delusion. The federated Loonies are attacking each other, accusing each other of treachery, apostasy, and selling out the religion.
I want to see a video of GRETA eating a bowl of insects for breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day for at least a week.
She can choose any insect she likes
I like to see any of these AGW True Believers/Useful Idiots/Power Hungry Tyranny Lovin’ Authoritarians actually live by their own stated ideals. No more AC, no refrigerators, no heat, no electricity (or only that created by wind and solar when all parts of the wind and solar equipment and power distribution grid are made without the use of any evil fossil fuels, no meat, no plastics (all are made from evil fossil fuels), etc., etc., etc.
Please, could my 200–ft yacht and Gulfstream private jet be exempted?
I thought it was the bats that brought the wuflu ate the insects.
If Greta starts eating crunchy grasshoppers, does that mean she’ll develop a new virus to infect us all?
Greta is a virus – she’s already been infecting the leftists and AGW True Believers.
I think it’s the other way around actually, but it’s hard to tell.
Yeah, which came first? The chicken or the Useful Idiot? 😉
You want her to be a cannibal?
We’re all insects to her ilk.
(Cue Soylent Green comments.)
I like Manchin but I wish he’d change his name back to what it was when he’s grandfather arrived in WV- it was Manchini. I like the sound of that much better.
The I was dropped, because evil people substituted an a
Huh? Were you going for Machina? Doesn’t quite work.
Man-China
“it is a sign of the final irrational disintegration of the Climate Delusion.”
Been hearing this for 20 years…
….20 years….
and every quarter the climate crisis stories are more prevalent in the media, with stories that start off with “Because of the rainfall extremes caused by climate change…” blah, blah….but without any graph showing that their premise is true….
Then governments passing carbon taxes, no new natural gas hookups, we anti-crackpots are delusional if we think we are “winning”. We’re barely even being heard.
This is the new progressive world where people feel the need to punish someone for having integrity, independent thought and an ability to see through common social delusions. IF you don’t drink the Kool-aid it’s nothing but abuse from all the adherents.
Two major Democrat party donors have announced that they will no longer donate to Senator Sinema’s campaigns.
Why don’t they just announce that they want to give that seat to the Republicans?
She is going to run as a RINO Republican and win by a landslide
I don’t agree with her on much but she had a funny line: They say that the states are the laboratories of democracy. Clearly Arizona is the meth lab of democracy.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkzm11PL9cs
Considering McCain and Flake, there’s something to it, I think.
They’ll probably primary Sinema. Maybe Manchin also. The irony is, in both of those states, their actions re: filibuster & BBB will probably make them more likely to get re-elected, not less. Won’t stop the Dems from primarying them anyhow, most likely. After all, they failed to toe the leftist line – they’re heretics who must be removed.
It’d be best for all of us if they’re the last two Dems left.
the “problem” with primarying them, is anyone far enough to the left to appeal to the ones wanting to primary them would be too far left for the general election should they succeed in knocking Manchin or Sinema out in the primary. The likely outcome is that a Republican takes the seat.
You also have the possibility of Manchin or Sinema pulling a Jeff Van Drew, and switching parties (and subsequently easily winning re-election).
With congress so evenly divided, it doesn’t make much sense to risk ceding any seats (and thus control of the Senate) to the other party. But then again, it’s leftist we’re talking about, sense never seems to apply with them.
“anyone far enough to the left to appeal to the ones wanting to primary them would be too far left for the general election”
I don’t think they care. They truly believe that if they put in a far-left “justice democrat” type that they’ll win, and if they don’t it’s only because Republicans “suppressed the vote”
After being indoctrinated in leftism since kindergarten, most leftists honestly believe that everyone thinks just like they do. Which is why they get so outraged anytime they don’t get what they want.
By constantly attacking and attempting to punish them, It wouldn’t be all that surprising if they end up pushing one or both of them into switching parties and giving control of the Senate over to the Republicans before the 2022 elections. If I were either Manchin or Sinema, I’d certainly would be seriously considering it given the way the Dems have been treating them.
Emily’s List and one other (I’ve forgotten who) major Democrat donor has already declared that they will no longer be giving support to Sinema. Add to that being censured by the Arizona Democrat party, and she could easily make the argument to the voters that she switched because the Democrats pushed her out.
Thank goodness for Manchin and Sinema in stopping the mad rush to Armageddon. For the sake of everyone and everything I hope they stay strong.
Senators Warren and Sanders have already started to find someone to primary him. It’s a pointless task. If Manchin is beaten it won’t be from the left. It will be a Republican. The Democrats are once again eating their own.
As a West Virginian I’m pretty proud of Joe.
If they primary him, especially if it gets nasty (as it’s bound to do), then they weaken Manchin and make it easier for the Republicans to beat him.
If somehow they do manage to defeat Manchin, then they have a far left wing rookie who’s burned most of his resources in the primary, going against a candidate who will have been picked to appeal to W. Virginia voters.
His poll numbers are way up
I really am surprised that Manchin still wants to be a Democrat. I think the Republicans have taken over the ideological territory he inhabits.
Didn’t Biden appoint his wife to some position?
I haven’t seem him cave to any threats about that.
The number of family and friends of Biden who have positions in the Biden administration is setting new records for nepotism.
Ridonculous hyperbole start to finish.
Even Lurch has stated what the USA does is meaningless if the rest of the world doesn’t follow.
Just so ridiculous
[Oops. this was intended as a reply to Joseph Borsa’s comment above]
There’s a chance Manchin was simply willing to take the heat to keep the filibuster rule for a bunch of other democrats who have more to fear from the progressive mob. They all see the writing on the wall and know they’re certainly going to lose the House in the mid-terms and quite likely the Senate as well. With the filibuster rule gone if a republican is elected president in 2024 there is no chance to block anything they might try to do. As things stand now, the democrat presidential field for 2024 is distinctly underwhelming.
Schumer and Senate democrats abolished the filibuster for all federal judges except the Supreme Court in 2013 during President Obama’s second term and it came back to bite them when the republican majority in 2017 extended the rule to all federal judges. As a result Trump’s three conservative nominees were all confirmed when they would certainly have been filibustered under the original rules. Setting precedent can by risky.
This is all just to appease the progressive mob, and to distract from the obvious fact the Biden administration is doing nothing on issues the American public really cares about.
Senator Bernie Sanders has threatened to support a primary challenger against Manchin. I hope he does; it would be worth paying money to watch. Sanders and other progressive democrats have zero traction in West Virginia.
“Senator Bernie Sanders has threatened to support a primary challenger against Manchin.”
Gotta admire Bernie. The DNC had to collude in two primary cycles to torpedo his presidential aspirations because he’s basically anathema to anyone outside the far left. The idea, then, that any candidate he favors would be electable in WVa is completely nonsensical.
If either Manchin or Sinema switches party, the first thing that will happen is that Schumer will have to vacate the majority leaders office and for the rest of this year, the Republican will control which bills come up to a vote and the timing of all activity. Including votes on the remaining nominees.
In a world without the fillibuster, every time congress and the presidency change hands, the first thing that happens is every law that the new majority disagrees with is eliminated, and ones the new majority likes are substituted.
Then when control passes back to the first party, everything gets reversed again.
And the poor citizens, not knowing what the laws are going to be, one year to the next quickly learn to pretty much ignore all laws.
MarkW:
Exactly. Most democrat Senators know this perfectly well; they just can’t say it openly. Meanwhile they have unleashed the progressive mob on Senators Manchin and Krysten Sinema (Sinema has even been formally censured by the Arizona democrat party). I would expect some personal relations have been rather bruised as a result.
If republicans recapture the Senate in the midterms, the same democrat Senators screaming at them now will be pleading with them later. Almost as much fun to watch as Sanders campaigning in West Virginia.
They will put him in a played out coal mine and flood it
I’d be interested in knowing if this is the first time a Senator has been censured for failing to vote the way the party tells them to?
BTW, I suspect that if the Republicans win big in November, the same Democrats who are know claiming that the filibuster is evil and MUST be eliminated will suddenly discover that the filibuster is sacred and that it protects democracy. Which is what they believed the last time Republicans controlled the Senate.
A couple of Republicans have been censured by their respective state parties for voting for Trump’s impeachment. The Wyoming Republican Party censured Liz Cheney, for example. Voting for impeachment was a much larger “betrayal” than not agreeing to make a change to a legislative rule, on a whim, that has served the country, and both parties, well.
In the case of the Republicans, the Senators were censured for not doing what the people of the state wanted.
In the case Sinema, she was censured for doing what the people of the state wanted.
Indeed, Chuck Schumer will go back to proclaiming that eliminating the filibuster would be Doomsday for Democracy!
Interesting analysis. Basically you’re saying that the DNC is so cynical that they select their most conservative Senator to thwart Bernie Sanders for a third time while strengthening Manchin’s re-election chances in a thoroughly red state.
Sounds believable to me, but if Manchin switches parties I guess we’ll know it’s not the case.
As far as “Climate Change caused by fossil fuel CO2 emissions” goes, you are absolutely right on two counts.
When the flak becomes intensified you know you are over the target.
And you might get shot down and put into a prison camp, if you’re lucky.
If their goal was reducing CO2 emissions, they’d be going after China and promoting nuclear power.
If their goal was the to bring down the western democracies and the destruction of capitalism, they would be doing precisely what they have been doing.
100 % in agreement with you Mark W.
If CO2 was a real threat to the world then nuclear is the only sane sensible solution .
The greens have morphed from the ban the bomb activists 50 years ago and nuclear is a dirty word to them .
I am quite sure that we have plenty of proof from Maurice Strong other high profile activists that the goal is to destroy capitalism and enforce socialism on the western world through the constant push against fossil fueled energy.
“engaged in the desperate fight to cut fossil fuel emissions in time to prevent the very worst impacts of global warming…”. What a simply ridiculous statement. It’s not just the self-serving, eco-loony ‘scientists’ who have lost the plot. Journalists have a responsibility to report on these issues in a balanced, scientific manner – and it’s high time they started doing so.
Most journalists are convinced that there job is to push what ever the far left wants this year.
He’s not a journalist. He’s a hack writer for a left wing media outlet.
Sadly that’s what amounts to journalism at most MSM outlets these days.
Liberal love and thrive on drama.
Manchin seems to be the only Democrat with any sense. But the Democrat party is like a pack of wild dogs. They fiercely attack anyone who disagrees with them …even one of their own.
From what I have read, Manchin and Sinema still seem to solid left wingers. They only seem sane compared to the rest of the Democrat party.
Bingo
Yes, they’re solidly to the left of center. What gets leftists knickers in a twist, however, is that fact that Manchin and Sinema are not far left ideologs. They’re much closer to the center than they are to the far left.
This will be a great year to be a climate skeptic.
______________________________________
I wish I could share your enthusiasm.
“What I believe we are seeing is the final collapse of the climate movement“. I wish I could agree with this but you’re dealing with people who have religious fervour.
I don’t think the movement is anywhere near collapse. They’ve managed to get the masses accepting their premises uncritically. I’ve mentioned before that “climate change” is all over many trade and special-interest magazines that have no actual connection to the subject. It’s just accepted by the public at large.
But if it ever does collapse, expect them to get louder and more strident along the way.
“Demonizing Senator Manchin is irrational, but I believe the most extreme climate activists in their despair have moved well beyond reason.”
========================
They moved beyond reason a couple decades ago.
The smh (Sydney Morning Herald) and The Age are both owned by the same company and are both raving looney leftist.
Well because everyone knows that renewables are much cheaper than fossil fuels it is irrelevant what this trivial senator thinks or does. The momentum of the people is irresistible.
The world will naturally move to renewables because it makes complete and total sense to move away from unreliable and intermittent fossil fuels to stable and reliable renewables.
On the other hand the afternoon spent at the pub may be clouding my judgement. Its certaibly making spelling a touch difficult……
You didn’t include a “sarc tag” but I got it.
It’s never happened to me but, I’m sure there are many men and women who woke up in the morning, realized they weren’t alone, looked and wondered, “What Hell did I drink last night!”
Were off to hear the wizard. the wonderful wizard of Oz
We hear he is a wiz of a wiz, if ever a wiz there was
He is the wiz he is, because, because, because?
Because the yellow brick road of green, is paved with gold……
One swallow does not a Spring make. One senator holding out does not bring liberation from the climate change fanatics who seem to be extending more and more tentacles into the entire body of western society. The UK and the EU are to be subjected to gas shortages, energy poverty and the knock on austerity and inflation, abolition of cars (except for electric types that only the wealthy can afford) and abolition of fossil fuels for home heating. All this while the finance industries are working hard to deprive the oil industry of capital to develop essential oil and gas fields, to say nothing of the devastating effects to grid stability of unreliables. Add to that toxic mix changes to IFRS accounting rules to make sustainability a thing, and stakeholder capitalism where the stakeholders are large eco fanatics, and you have a doomsday device.
Somehow I don’t think anything Manchin does or doesn’t do will make much difference.
I agree. Even if Republicans win bigly in this year’s elections, the mass and social media will demonize all of them as anti-science, racist, white supremacists (Even the ones who aren’t white). They will gin up all kinds of faux outrage at everything, just like they did to Trump and the repubs who were voted out the last time. They know the recipe.
They’ve been using that same playbook since the 1960’s. It’s all they know.
“Climate Claim: Joe Manchin Controls “the fate of the world”
There are other loony and worse options. Like “Climate Claims” as one example.
“’I’d tell him he has history in his hands,’ says Hare.”
If that’s all they wish to report of his thinking, they are being kind to the Hare-brained scientist. That quote alone is not a good look and it makes the comment about his knowledge of global climate politics less an accolade to him and more of an insult to everyone else.
Coal Man
Joe Man-
Chin’s the man.
The more the Climate Caterwaulers hate on him, the more clear thinking rational people love him.
Manchin for president?
Yes please!
“Michael Mann said he shared the view, telling the Herald and The Age the need to rapidly decarbonise was now so acute that the decisions made by individuals in power at present, and by Manchin specifically, could have profound implications on all of us.”
You just have to laugh at how habitualized they are with their propaganda. Even here with the certainty to which they”ve concluded that the future of, not just humanity, but the earth itself is in the balance, they thoughtlessly accede that it’s only a possibility.
“We urge Senator Manchin to revisit his opposition to this legislation and work with his colleagues to pass something that will help keep coal miners working, said United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil Roberts”
WTF???????
partly, as the Rolling Stone article says, “encourage businesses to build manufacturing facilities for miners who have lost their jobs”
oh, just like that- encourage new industries for the miners- and voila, it’ll happen- that’s absurd- it won’t happen- industries are leaving the country- and they’re not going to WV
I can only wonder who paid off the union bosses
Almost every federal building in West Virginia is named after late Senator Robert Byrd or his family. But I suppose there’s room for the “Joe Manchin Technical Institute of Java Programming”.
Is a “climate denialist level 7” kinda like a black belt in climate denial? I like it.
I also like the title. How does one become a level 8 denialist…is there a test I can take?
OK, here’s the test for level 8. If you answer “no” on every question- you get level 8 black belt “denier of the AGW catastrophe”. The belts will be handed out in a ceremony by Anthony Watts.
———————————————-
Here’s the test.
1. was the Earth’s climate ideal 150 years ago? yes ___ no ___
2. is CO2 a pollutant? yes ___ no ___
3. can our civilization thrive without fossil fuels? yes ___ no ___
4. are industrial scale solar and wind installations clean and green? yes ___ no ___
5. is “net zero” possible? yes ___ no ___
6. are tree rings thermometers? yes ___ no ___
7. is there such a thing as “global climate” yes ___ no ___
8. is there a better place on the internet to learn the true complexity of climate science and politics than WUWT? yes ___ no ___
9. is the “skeptical science” web site (https://skepticalscience.com/) skeptical about climate science? yes ___ no ___
10. do 97% of climate scientists agree that there is a climate crisis worthy of drastically changing everything about our civilization while spending hundreds of trillions of dollars to do so? yes ___ no ___
Number 3, replace “thrive” with “survive”.
The requirements to advance from Climate Denialist Level 7 to Level 8 are quite difficult, which is why I have been stuck at Level 7 for over 5 years now.
Among other things, you must be publicly denounced by at least 3 different high priests of the Carbon Cult in a single year. The official list of Carbon Cult high priests is a bit fluid year to year, but Michael Mann, Al Gore and David Suzuki are guaranteed to be included. Peter Gleick was on the list for a while but then dropped several years back. I just checked and Griff is not on this year’s list.
It’s not enough to merely eschew the Carbon Cult Revealed Truth, you must do so to a degree they deem to be threatening them. Try as I might, I just have not managed to meet that bar. I thought for a while I could get denounced by asking usual suspects for copies of their data, but the vituperative reactions have been confined to private emails which have not yet been exposed (good idea; but too late).
I am currently searching for a new strategy.
We need to start a SuperPAC for Alan!
Java is about as popular as a fart in an elevator since Oracle bought Sun (and hence control of the Java standard), so having miners learn to code Java seems to fit.
A better title would be “The Joe Manchin Academy for learning to code”
It’s a rare union boss who actually cares about the well being of the members of the union.
So rare that they may in fact by entirely mythical.
In other words such union bosses are unicorns.
The union leaders are firmly in the grasp of the Democratic Party. Like “black leaders” they are more worried about feathering their own nests, then what they can do for their constituents.
““West Virginia politicians can only deny reality for so long,” says Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, who helped manage the energy transition in coal-heavy regions of southern Illinois.”
So, I wonder how many awesome jobs Casten got for those coal miners in his district. Computer programming? Installing “clean energy”? It might make for another article in Rolling Stone.
If you went into coal mining in the first place, you probably don’t have the inclination or aptitude for programming.
exactly- they might not mind installing “clean” energy but probably won’t get paid nearly as well
Well hey, if programming doesn’t cut it, they can become farmers. After all anyone can be a farmer, according to Michael Bloomberg: “you dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn”. easy-peasy.
Manchin’s poll numbers are increasing in West Virginia, which is extremely proud of him defending the West Virginia economy, and livelihoods of millions of West Virginia workers.
As a side benefit, he is doing far more benefit to the world’s economy, than trust fund, married-into-Heinz-wealth, useless Kerry could ever do.
Kerry was in Australia bemoaning Manchin, who is a true patriot, whereas Kerry is true traitor.
“whereas Kerry is true traitor”
the man who gets $700 haircuts cannot possibly understand the rest of us
There was a time when politics stopped at the border. But that was a time when we were Americans first and Republican/Democrat second.
Can anyone recall a time when Reagan trash talked a Democrat while overseas?
Heck, I can’t really recall a time when Reagan trash talked an opponent. No matter what the Democrats said about him, he remained a gentleman.
“There you go again” along with that head shake was all he needed.
That and “I promise not to take advantage of my opponents youth and inexperience.”
He tended to attack their ideology rather than the individuals personally.
He once said, “The national Democratic leadership is going so far left, they’ve left America.” Sadly, it’s’ not just the leadership anymore, it’s practically the entire party now.
The Democratic party is attempting to enshrine itself into perpetual power and at the same time sealing that power with agendas that are in opposition to the well being of the people. Australia is not an example the US would want to follow in it’s heavy handed dealing with the virus.
“What I believe we are seeing is the final collapse of the climate movement.”
I wish.
What we are seeing is a few people apparently coming to their senses, probably for personal political reasons.
Yeah. We’ve been hearing that sentiment for decades. They’ve gotten stronger, not weaker.
In my view, Podesta is stubbornly clinging on to the Climate Change wagon to hold on the his remaining relevance (A la AlGore.)
“Aussie press demonizing Senator Joe Manchin, the lone Democrat who opposed President Biden’s
Green New DealBuild Back BetterBuild a Bigger Welfare State.“Double fixed!
There is a lot to admire in Joe Manchin’s political stances. He seems grounded on principle and an understanding of his role as representative of his State government in the Federal Congress. Both sides of the aisle could use statesmen like him.
But I can’t rid my mind of the picture of Joe Biden and Joe Manchin riding in a convertible with Sen Byrd, in a parade celebrating the latter.
Podesta was talking about the mid term elections not the world.
Manchin alone has elevated opinions of WV. Thank you Senator for saving the country.
I prefer to think of Manchin (and Sinima) as the last of the old school Democrats in Congress that put country and freedom above MOB rule here in the USA.
“Aussie press demonizing Senator Joe Manchin, the lone Democrat who opposed President Biden’s
Green New DealBuild Back Better.”Only Manchin wasn’t a lone Democrat. Senator Sinema also opposed it.