The Media Love a Phony Crisis; The War on Home Heating; & So Long, New York.
The Media Love a Phony Crisis; The War on Home Heating; & So Long, New York.
Enemies of the People: the 'Squad'
In his weekly Editor’s Column, Michael Walsh discussed why it is that modern journalists are so enthusiastic about the “climate crisis,” and why they went all in on Covid:
'Emergency! Everybody to Get from Planet'
Now that the annual scarifying convention of pampered hypocrites known as "Cop28" is underway in the superbly artificial, petroleum-built capital of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai -- and even as the wheels are coming off the entire "green" "climate change" boy-who-cried-wolf scam -- it's time to raise a little-noticed red flag as the confluence of journalism and partisan stenographic propaganda grows ever tighter: the activists masquerading as "journalists" are all in on the scam:
In late September, with hundreds of journalists watching, Covering Climate Now co-founder Mark Hertsgaard began a two-day media conference with a call to arms. Climate change, he told attendees at Columbia Journalism School, isn't just a "problem" or "crisis." It's an emergency—one that requires breathless, around-the-clock coverage. Think COVID, Hertsgaard said, except it's the planet that's sick.
Except that Covid was complete crap and everybody knows it...
It’s an interesting comparison. During COVID, the press, at the direction of various "experts," ruthlessly policed its own coverage. The possibility that the virus leaked from a lab, now considered the most likely scenario for its emergence, was roundly derided as a conspiracy theory. Those who questioned the utility of paper masks and the costs of remote learning were scorned.
For most people, this isn’t a story of journalistic triumph. For Hertsgaard, a journalist and the author of Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, it is a template, and he now spends his time telling other journalists exactly how to cover global warming. Some might say that is not very journalistic, but nobody seems to be complaining.
Why would they complain? Among the magnificent wreckage wrought by the internet, the journalistic establishment and its publications are among the chief victims. (Hold your cheers; this is not entirely a good thing.) Daily newspapers are vanishing at a headlong rate, which has transformed news junkies into their own echo-chamber editors, deriving their information now from increasingly monomaniacal sources that reinforce instead of challenge their pre-held beliefs. This is one principal reason why, for example, all news has something to do with Donald J. Trump and, incidentally, is almost entirely about the 2024 election.
Even news that's not overtly political nevertheless has a political subtext; everything does these days. Do you still wear a mask, donate to Black Lives Matter, celebrate Hamas' murderous sneak attack on Israel, and swear by "global warming"? If you do, you're a Democrat and you're going to vote for Joe Biden or Your Name Here (D) come hell or high water; if not, not. You likely view everything through a "progressive" lens and where once you might have amused yourself with reading the bridge column or the gardening tips or the recipes or even the little "brites," as we used to call them -- short items intended to elicit a small smile or a mild chuckle -- such bagatelles are no longer in your X or TikTok or Instagram feeds. Life is far too serious now for such trivial pursuits.
"Journalists," however, have already gone that extra mile and are now proudly and unabashedly in the leftist corner. Every story they now cover must and damn well is fit into a "progressive" mold in the furtherance of the Narrative, which is entirely political. It's the natural end-point of a profession whose "glamour" side was always to be found in the White House, and becoming a White House Correspondent was the pinnacle of a journalistic career. As the saying went, Washington was Hollywood for ugly people, and getting your puss on Meet the Press was like winning an Oscar. Why, folks out there in radioland actually recognize you on the street!
Covering Climate Now presses media organizations to "make climate a part of every beat in the newsroom." Its partners include top TV networks and print publications, such as ABC and CBS News, MSNBC, Time, HuffPost, and Vox, and its money comes from the nation's wealthiest liberal foundations, including the Rockefeller Family Fund and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Today, the journalists are the activists, and the conference itself reflected the blurred line between climate journalism and climate activism. Covering Climate Now's conference... journalists from the nation’s most prominent outlets, from NBC to CBS to Time. Those journalists—such as CBS national environmental correspondent David Schechter and Time senior correspondent Justin Worland—echoed Hertsgaard's rallying cry, portraying climate change as a do-or-die issue that transcends industry norms and standard practices.
So now journalists have something that's always atop their Christmas wish lists: a crisis. They missed out on WWIII, Korea, Vietnam and, most of them, the Cold War -- but those were messy affairs. A guy could hurt on a battlefield, or at least get his hair mussed. But a deadly, science-fiction-level extinction event with absolutely no visible manifestations and no serious threat to either your health or your lifestyle (like Covid, but better!)... what more could you want? Sure, the "science" doesn't add up, but when you're a drone working for a wire service, what difference, at this point, does it make.
Steven Hayward contributed a piece about a new front opened up by the Biden Administration in the war on home heating.
As 'Green Energy' Fails, a New 'Emergency' Arises
The swift and startling collapse of the net-zero climate agenda nearly everywhere is leading to political desperation. Don’t be surprised to see the political emergency — especially President Joe Biden’s — become the basis for declaring a formal “climate emergency.” Despite hundreds of billions in new subsides for “green energy” enacted over the last three years in the U.S. and Europe—on top of several trillion dollars spent so far—renewable power projects are being canceled, delayed, or scaled back nearly everywhere.
The green energy lobby, already the beneficiary of some of the most lavish subsidies governments have ever granted for any industry, are saying that the future of green energy depends on even larger subsidies. It was recently revealed that Germany’s off-budget spending for energy subsidies is nearly larger than the regular budget for the entire government, and Germany’s normally deferential Constitutional Court has ruled against the Scholz government’s proposal to divert billions in unspent Covid funds to the green energy rathole.
The situation in the United States differs only in the timeline. The U.S. is fast catching up with Germany in the sweepstakes for the most green-mad nation, as Biden’s direct subsidies, loan guarantees, tax favors, and green mandates likely exceed $1 trillion in total cost this decade. But already it is running into trouble. One of his largest green slush funds is having trouble spending all the billions, and the projects it has funded are likely to yield the same results as Biden’s favorite green energy project under the Obama Administration’s previous slush fund: Solyndra.
Car buyers aren’t rushing to embrace electric vehicles (that are slated to be mandatory for everyone in a decade), car makers are cutting EV production and canceling planned battery manufacturing plants. Offshore solar wind power projects are being abandoned, and onshore wind projects are facing mounting opposition from the public.
Fanciful claims that renewable energy is cheaper than conventional energy are belied by soaring utility rates in the U.S. and elsewhere. Wyoming, for example, the nation’s leading coal-producing state, is suddenly facing a 30 percent increase in electric utility rates because it foolishly joined the renewable-energy bandwagon. Green energy stocks have collapsed this year. For example, the Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy exchange-traded green energy fund PBW is down 30 percent in 2023, while the S&P 500 is up 19 percent and the NASDAQ is up 36 percent.
While everyone is looking at the mind-boggling green spending totals, a sly move by the Biden administration is drawing little attention outside of the specialized energy press (and Fox News). Two weeks ago President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to divert $169 million in federal funds to expand the production of heat pumps. While $169 million is hardly rounding error in federal spending these days, this move is notable for several reasons.
Lisa Schiffren wrote about the effects of increasingly onerous “green” policies on New York.
Dig Deeper, New Yorkers, You're 'Saving the Planet'
If you live in New York City, your electric bill has gone up a lot in the past year. A lot. Perhaps you can figure out how to do with less light or fewer appliances and tech devices charging all the time. Though that isn’t really easy. Unplugging things that need to stay on isn't going to work.
Luckily, if you are a renter, your heating bill for winter is (generally) included in the rent. That heat is almost universally provided by natural gas, propane, or home heating oil in apartments in the New York City area. Currently, only 13 percent of all New York homes and apartments are heated with either electricity or solar energy. The same thing is true of many appliances -- stoves, for instance, which often use natural gas or propane. That these are "free" -- at least at the point of use -- is an almost universal convention of the rental market in the city. Why? Because they're cheap enough (and rents are expensive enough) for landlords to throw them in as a benefit. But that could all change soon if New York's dyed green legislators have their way.
A controversial state budget proposal that New York governor Kathy Hochul signed into law last January, which requires new single-family homes and smaller buildings to be all electric by 2025 – with larger buildings facing the same requirements three years later – is going to be a particular headache for city-dwellers. Heating buildings with electricity will not come cheap. It is thus highly unlikely that landlords will continue to pick up the tab. Maintenance costs will rises for owners. And the gas stoves that most people prefer will disappear. Even Governor Hochul, it turns out. It was revealed recently that both her private home and the Governor’s mansion are outfitted with gas-burning stoves.
Joan Sammon looked into an ongoing (and disastrous) climate boondoggle in her home state.
Electric Ferries and Other Fairytales
Standing in a Seattle shipyard on an autumn day back in 2019, Washington State governor and World Economic Forum (WEF) member, Jay Inslee (D) infamously announced the launch of yet another of his many, and often mired, climate-related initiatives. With Vigor, owner of the shipyard, and its then-CEO, Frank Foti, as his public-private partnership props, Inslee asserted that he was ushering in a “green revolution” by launching Washington state’s hybrid electric ferry program. Now, four years later with missed timelines, poor public policy and planning and failed fiscal stewardship over-shadowing the entire program, one must contemplate whether the objective for Inslee all along was adulation from environmental globalists.
But 2½ years later, their partnership would fall apart, casting the grand plans for a reborn fleet into a state of uncertainty at a time when new boats are needed more than ever. The result is a red sky in the morning for the fleet as the green and white totems of Puget Sound and the Pacific Northwest continue to degrade. Beyond the quest to green the heavily polluting vessels is the question of how well the country’s largest ferry system can deliver basic service for years to come.
Months later, under new ownership by one of the world’s largest private equity firms and flush with federal military contracts, Vigor expressed concern about accepting risk in its first contract to build the new hybrid-electric boats. Ultimately, Washington State Ferries cut off negotiations when Vigor said the first ferry would cost more than $400 million — more than double the state’s estimate.
“Yeah, we’re screwed,” said Sen. Joe Nguyen, a Democrat whose West Seattle district includes Harbor Island. “We thought we had set up an infrastructure that would have made it work here in Washington state. We were not quite there.”
Considered part of the state’s highway system, the 21 diesel-powered vessels have connected all the island communities of the Puget Sound to Seattle and other smaller shoreline cities on the Olympic peninsula and along the Puget Sound for more than six decades. It is the largest ferry system in the country and is the locals’ link to work and daily life. So important are the ferries to commuters and tourists alike that between 2017-2020 there was an average of 23 million annual trips. But, as identified in its 2018-2019 Long Range Plan, an aging fleet and fewer licensed crew were going to add pressure on an already taxed ferry system if nothing changed.
But change they did. By the time state Covid-era vaccine-mandate firings of many mechanics were over, vessels were even less well cared for than before the mandates, and the number of trips had decreased to 17.5 million. Meanwhile, the number of unplanned maintenance events had grown from about 500 annually (2017-2020), to about 900 this year so far. No mechanics -- no repairs. No repairs -- more maintenance failures. More maintenance failures -- a less reliable form of transportation.
Now, more people than ever are driving from the peninsula the ferry system was meant to connect with the island communities, while others are simply moving house in order to regain their lives and the hours lost to waiting in ferry lines. All while still being taxed to pay for the system that by all accounts is failing.
Rich Trzupek wrote about the furious reaction that many of his fellow scientists — and especially their admirers in the media — to Dr. John Clauser’s publicly embrace of climate-doom skepticism.
No Physicists Allowed at the 'Climate' Party
It's always interesting to watch the reaction of the climate change consensus mafia when a qualified physicist dares to question doctrine. The latest example involves John F. Clauser who shared the Nobel Prize in physics last year with two other physicists for ground-breaking work in the weird world of quantum mechanics.
The knowledge and skill sets required to be a physicist are very closely related to those required to be a climatologist. Understanding basic Newtonian mechanics, having a firm grasp on thermodynamics, and being able to sort out complex interactions are just a few of the skills inherent to both disciplines. No scientist worth a grain of salt would dismiss a qualified physicist’s opinion about climate change simply because that physicist isn't a climatologist. But when you read stories like this one in the Washington Post it appears there is a huge gulf separating the two disciplines.
At a fiery news conference at the Four Seasons hotel here Tuesday, speakers denounced climate change as a hoax perpetrated by a “global cabal” including the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and many leaders of the Catholic Church. It might have seemed like a fringe event, except for one speaker’s credentials. John F. Clauser shared the Nobel Prize in physics last year before declaring Tuesday that “there is no climate crisis” — a claim that contradicts the overwhelming scientific consensus.
The event showcased Clauser’s remarkable shift since winning one of the world’s most prestigious awards for his groundbreaking experiments with light particles in the 1970s. His recent denial of global warming has alarmed top climate scientists, who warn that he is using his stature to mislead the public about a planetary emergency.
The staff writer who authored this story and framed the narrative has a degree in English, for what it's worth. One can be confident then that she has little or no personal understanding of the science she's writing about. Like most journalists who write about controversial scientific subjects these days, she's simply picking a side.
And Elizabeth Nickson discussed the ways in which the Covid-vax furor has inspired increased skepticism of Big Pharma, and its sister industry in Big Agriculture.
Food Fight
It is arguable that the environmental movement, funded largely by WEFers, is meant to distract from the systematic poisoning of our food and water. Putting aside geo-engineering, which few who farm do, the manipulated science that accompanied Covid flared suspicion about every Big Pharma product. And Big Pharma and Big Ag are married. Covid and the vaccine changed everything and everybody, even those who profited from it egregiously like the upper .01 percent. Naomi Wolf recently visited the denizens of the Upper East Side to find the former Masters of the Universe now feeling shame, going grey, wearing sweatpants, and confessing their injuries.
Recently, MIT invited Steve Kirsch to speak to undergraduates about the dangers of the Covid vaccine, a remarkable turnaround. Out in the wilder, wider world, throughout the early 2020s, a shift to rural areas took place. Many left the developed world to move to a freer (for them) developing nation. The principal driver on the right was suspicion of Covid, the vaccine, and the sudden authoritarianism shown by government. But the pandemic’s "science" and propaganda was so egregious, so absurd, that suspicions rose across the political spectrum about the the food we eat, the water we drink, and the pharma products we take. Even childhood vaccines are now showing a diminished uptake.
In South and Central America, new communities advertise separation from the superculture, and un-poisoned food, water and air. A community started by an Austrian couple, out in the Paraguayan rangeland prints its own houses, runs its own cattle, grows its own food, and schools its own children. A feature is the deep aquifer beneath their feet, and no over-flights dumping aerosolized metals to shade the sun, as they claim. A video on the community had 400,000 views in its first week. The Telegraph mocked these communities which range geographically from Africa, South-East Asia, various islands to south and central America, as "anti-vaxxers" and "extreme right." But the left is even more determined to live "clean," as they call it, and raise free-range children and their "intentional" communities are growing like mushrooms in every corner of the earth.
Organic food and the extended natural products sector is the fastest-growing consumer food and lifestyle trend in modern history. Big Ag spends millions trying to prove their food is safe, but without much success. In the first months of the pandemic, demand for organic food grew 50 percent. In a market that is $290 billion (out of a $1.3 trillion food-products market), that is a serious signal.
That’s all for this week, but keep a look out for our upcoming pieces at The Pipeline!