On today’s BradCast: Baby, it’s COLD outside in much of the Midwest and Northeast. Record cold, in fact, with wind chills dipping near an unfathomable 60 degrees below zero in some parts of the country, as discussed with — and explained by — our guest today. [Audio link to full show posted below.]
But, first up: Donald Trump’s own top intelligence chiefs — the FBI and CIA Directors as well as his Director of National Intelligence and others — all directly contradicted the Commander-in-Chief on matters of foreign affairs this week, from the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, to the continuing threat from ISIS in Syria and Iraq, to the cybersecurity threat to elections posted by China and Russia, and to the lack of nuclear threat from Iran or at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Testifying before the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, the intel heads — appointed by Trump himself (not so-called “Deep State Obama Democrats”) — expanded on their newly published annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment” [PDF]. As it turns out, neither the new report nor the officials themselves cite border concerns as any sort of danger to the nation, despite Trump’s persistent and unsupported claims to the contrary and his threat to declare a “National Emergency” if he’s not given $5.7 billion for his southern border wall before the Continuing Resolution for government funding runs out, once again, on February 15. Today, in response, Trump mocked his own intel staff as “naive”.
The testimony from Trump’s own intel chiefs is likely to be used against the President in court, should he declare that “emergency”, according to U.S. House Intel Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-CA). But, as Democratic Committee member Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), points out, House Republicans have yet to actually appoint their members to either that Committee or three others (on Climate Change, Ethics or House Administration, which handles election challenges, such as the one in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, where the House seat is still empty due to a GOP absentee ballot election fraud scandal.) Those committees may not proceed with virtually any business until House Republicans appoint their members and end the purposeful slow-walking.
After that warm up, it’s on to the sub-freezing temps that have kept even the U.S. Post Office from completing their appointed rounds in a number of states. Of course, the big chill has led the Fox “News” clowns and climate change Denier-in-Chief to have a grand old time avoiding the actual scientific explanation for the bone-numbing depression in the Polar Vortex which, yes, is tied to global warming.
We’re joined today by “Climate Guy” GUY WALTON, a 30-year Weather Channel veteran meteorologist, for some actual science on what’s going on. Walton pens a daily “Extreme Temperature Diary” and is co-author, with Nick Walker, of the new (joyfully snarky) children’s book and climate primer World of Thermo: Thermometer Rising.
Walton explains why and how global weather patterns have changed in recent years to bring bitter cold snaps like the one experienced this week in parts of the U.S., even as the rest of the globe — like Australia, where temps have neared 120 degrees Fahrenheit and touched off record bush fires in recent days — continues to suffer from record heat, thanks to anthropomorphic Global Warming. This “Age of Weather Extremes” is precisely in line with what climate scientists have long predicted.
“Right now, as far as global warming goes, we’re having a lot of warmth from the sub-tropics moving northward over the polar areas, where, prior to, say, the 1970s, we hadn’t been seeing that as much,” he tells me. “What we had in the past, when we had Arctic outbreaks in the 70s and 80s, we had a larger, colder Polar Vortex encompassing the Northern Hemisphere. Now we have a warmer Polar Vortex which is not quite as large, and it’s having a tendency to pinch off pieces…when they do pinch off, they’re quite cold, and you can get cold air, colder than what you have right now at the North Pole, sitting right over say, Chicago or Detroit.”
As to Trump’s recent tweet making light of “Global Waming [sic]” amidst the Arctic blast, Walton argues: “A lot of this is out of greed, and to perhaps make more money through the fossil fuel industry. And to some extent, it’s just denial, in that they know deep down the Titanic is sinking, they’re just not wanting to admit that the ship’s going to go under the water, so to speak.”
Finally, some encouraging news today from the world of science, which we could have told you about (and, in fact, did!) years ago. A new “seminal study” finds that e-cigs or vaping is more than twice as likely to lead smokers to kick the habit than the use of Big Pharma-approved nicotine delivery systems such as patches and gums. While that may be bad news for Big Pharma’s billion dollar nicotine industry, it’s good news for the world which sees more than 6 million die annually thanks to tobacco, including nearly half a million alone here in the U.S. Now, if someone would just inform the Democrats in Congress and around the U.S. who are working to make it harder, not easier, for people to quit smoking and dying by moving to vaping, it would be VERY much appreciated…
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[audio:http://bradblog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman_IntelChiefsVTrump_GuyWalton-PolarVortex_NewECigStudy_013019.mp3]
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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Re: fossil fuel Titanic analogy
It’s tempting to ascribe a desire for more money to the distributors of climate denial. A different possibility is they seek to keep the concept of “money” viable a little longer. Debt based money that is loaned into existence out of thin air (fiat currency) requires more and more resources to constantly grow, like a shark that has to keep moving. Since giving up concentrated fossil carbon will power a smaller steady state economy where growth based money no longer can grow, this is a key motive for the purveyors of doubt and obfuscation. In addition, the cities in the deep chill like Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto, etc. require constant power to keep their plumbing viable and the national security managers have quietly studied this problem for decades. What happens to a community that has a grid disruption at minus 20 F? That is part of the motive of pretending that climate change is not real (and that limits to growth are also not real). Sorry not to have a simple solution for overshoot.
Also re: Titanic
It’s worth remembering that it was First Class women and children first. The majority of them survived. The so-called Third Class passengers mostly drowned. That is a similar mindset of the richest people today – it’s not that the Koch brothers privately don’t believe in climate change, but they want to have the lifeboats to themselves. The reality that the only lifeboat is planet sized doesn’t fit their worldview.
I wonder if all those volcanic eruptions along the ocean floor impact the climate cycle? I don’t think so, because they aren’t man made. I must be brilliant!
Mark said @3:
Nah. Just a dupe and/or very poorly read. Here’s some help for you though. Don’t worry. It’s easy to read. You’re welcome!
Thanks much! I am now well-read. You are brilliant! Unfortunately most of us dummies won’t realize it’s a warming planet that will kill us with cold. I just think it’s human nature at its worst to believe what we see and not the underlying science.
Mark @5 spewed:
Obviously not.
So, you’re purposely ignorant and ill-informed? Or you are paid to be as much?
Well, then, here ya go. Pretty pictures that you can look at and “see” and don’t have to trouble yourself with reading big words and such:
Notice how one single area of the U.S. is colder, while the rest is warmer? Now, let’s zoom out…
Yes. Your Polar Vortex depression, usually over the Arctic, has dipped to one section of the US, while being displaced by WARMER air. The rest of the globe remains warmer than normal.
Hope that’s not too sciency for ya!
Maybe if these anomalies never existed before the Industrial Revolution, I’d be more hopeful, but cycles have a way of, well, being cyclical. Man-caused climate change is argumentum ad absurdum. Even if it weren’t, the reality is that the UN mandate goal is unattainable, and even if it were there is this “Emissions Gap” sciency thingy: https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/11/understanding-emissions-gap-5-charts
Mark @7:
As I said, I really hope you’re at least making some money to spread this nonsense, otherwise, you are simply being a chump for free, which is sad.
Feel free to let me know when similar global “anomalies” occurred before industrial times. Short of that, you’re just repeating more long-ago debunked bullshit here.
As to the notion that the voluntary Paris Agreement actions are either a “mandate” or “unattainable”, every country on earth disagrees with you, as does just about every scientist on earth. But your evidence that it is “unattainable” is what, exactly? Please share your evidence/link.
As to the “Emissions Gap”, I’ve got no clue what you’re even trying to argue there. And, I suspect, neither do you.
Again, I hope your horseshit comes with a paycheck.
I wish someone would pay me to spread the stuff. I’m holding out for that redistributed wealth in the form of carbon credits. When all those wealthy people start paying those carbon taxes, I’ll be supplemented for my energy use. Kinda stealthy socialism, don’t ya think? I’ll vote for whomever gives me the most, and that way we both win. You are the best Brad! And entertaining to boot!
Mark @9:
“I wish someone would pay me to spread the stuff.” — So you’re running around disinforming people with bullshit for free?
I guess that answers my earlier question as to whether you were being paid or just stupid.
I have two boys. Each very smart, unlike their dad. One is a doctor now. The younger is still trying to figure out what to do with his life. I want them to grow up in a free country. Not the kind you envision that would involve massive government intervention into their lives. I know that as the climate changes, as it always has, we can deal with the challenges those changes bring instead of trying to gamble on circumventing the inevitable at the cost of our prosperity and our freedom. The green new deal is ‘pie in the sky’ as Bloomberg put it. I read you site because it’s fascinating, even though you call me stupid. That doesn’t bother me, because, as is happening in France, people eventually revolt when their leaders tax them to death, so your side hasn’t much chance of winning in the long run. The climate will change, the end of the world will not come, and people will live their lives as they’ve always done, meeting and surviving obstacles along the way. And governments will do what they’ve always done: they will rely on people like you tell the world they need to pay more in taxes and relinquish their freedoms so the government can rescue us from bogeymen, which in this case are the vagaries of climate change.
Mark @11:
Why you’d wish to keep embarrassing yourself here, I don’t know. I suppose because you don’t use your real/full name (and sometimes choose to use different names entirely, in violation of our rules), you don’t much care.
In any event, just to hit a few of your desperately misinformed points, in which (if you used your real name) you’d embarrass yourself to anyone who knows enough to notice just how duped you’ve allowed yourself to be…
What “massive government intervention” are you even talking about? (Seriously, stop watching Fox “News” or following those who do. They are making you look like an idiot.)
It has never changed as quickly as it is changing now without some natural forcing (an asteroid, a huge volcano, etc.) If you have evidence to the contrary, I’m sure you’ll share it. Short of that, you’re being played for a fool.
What world do you even live in? What “cost [to] our prosperity and our freedom” are you even talking about? Do you enjoy being played for a sucker?
Really? How so?
What “side” are you talking about? The side that would like to see America be as great as it was when it won WWII, sent a man to the moon and back in less than a decade? Had the strong economy and thriving middle-class that the world has ever seen? Versus what we have now? Which “side” is that, and why aren’t you on it?
I’ll let the tens of thousands killed by climate-change caused disasters and wars know that all is well. Very happy that neither you nor your sons are among them. Yet.
“Vagaries of climate change” demonstrates you’ve not read ANY actual science about it in your life. As Trump would say: SAD! That said, I’ll look forward to hearing about all of the “freedoms” we’ll be “relinquishing”. But congrats on making more than $10 million a year! Very cool. Sorry that you may have to pay higher taxes because of it one day. I hope you’ll survive all that lost “freedom”.