quote of the day

Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham
“If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

An Inconvenient Review: After 10 Years Al Gore’s Film Is Still Alarmingly Inaccurate

by MICHAEL BASTASCH

It’s been nearly one decade since former Vice President Al Gore released his film “An Inconvenient Truth.” It sent shockwaves through American politics and emboldened environmental activists to push for more regulations on American businesses.

Gore warned increasing carbon dioxide emissions would spur catastrophic global warming that would cause more extreme weather, wipe out cities and cause ecological collapse. To stop global warming, humans needed to ditch fossil fuels and basically change every aspect of their lives.

Watching “An Inconvenient Truth” is sort of like going back in time. Back to a world where flip phones were cool and “Futurama” was still putting out new episodes. A world where a bitter presidential candidate was trying to rebrand himself as an environmental crusader.

But have Gore’s warnings, which were alarming to many in 2006, come true?

In honor of the upcoming 10th anniversary, The Daily Caller News Foundation re-watched “An Inconvenient Truth” just to see how well Gore’s warnings of future climate disaster lined up with reality.

Gore’s been harping on global warming since at least the late 1980s, but it wasn’t until 2006 he discovered a way to become massively wealthy off making movies about it and investing in government-subsidized green energy.

Gore opens the film talking about nature, then jumping to a presentation he’s giving where he shows the first image ever taken of the Earth from space. From that image, he jumps right into making alarmist claims about global warming.

Kilimanjaro Still Has Snow

One of the first glaring claims Gore makes is about Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. He claims Africa’s tallest peak will be snow-free “within the decade.” Gore shows slides of Kilimanjaro’s peak in the 1970s versus today to conclude the snow is disappearing.

Well, it’s been a decade and, yes, there’s still snow on Kilimanjaro year-round. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure this out. One can just look at recent photos posted on the travel website TripAdvisor.com.

In 2014, ecologists actually monitoring Kilimanjaro’s snowpack found it was not even close to being gone. It may have shrunk a little, but ecologists were confident it would be around for the foreseeable future.

“There are ongoing several studies, but preliminary findings show that the ice is nowhere near melting,” Imani Kikoti, an ecologist at Mount Kilimanjaro National Park, told eturbonews.com.

“Much as we agree that the snow has declined over centuries, but we are comfortable that its total melt will not happen in the near future,” he said.

Gore Left Out The 15-Year “Hiatus” In Warming

Gore also claims temperature rise from increases in man-made carbon dioxide emissions were “uninterrupted and intensifying.” He goes on to claim heatwaves will become more common, like the one that killed 35,000 people across Europe in 2003.

Sounds terrifying — until you actually look at what happened to global temperature after Gore’s film was released. Global temperatures showed little to no warming trend after Gore released his film. In fact, surface temperature data showed no significant global warming for a period of about 15 years, starting in the early 2000s.

Satellite-derived temperature data showed, until the recent El Niño, no statistically significant warming trend for more than 21 years.

Gore’s movie was released right in the middle of the so-called global warming “hiatus.”

The Weather Hasn’t Gotten Worse

Gore also famously predicted storms would become more frequent and intense as man-made emissions warmed the oceans.

“And of course when the oceans get warmer, that causes stronger storms,” Gore said in his film. “That same year that we had that string of big hurricanes, we also set an all-time record for tornadoes.”

Gore’s film came out just after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. Indeed, footage of the destruction from that storm featured prominently in Gore’s film. He mentions how the U.S. was hit with a rash of severe storms in the early 2000s and how Japan saw a record number of typhoons.

“The insurance industry has actually noticed this,” Gore said. “Their recovered losses are going up.”

But Gore’s claim is more hype than actual science, since storms aren’t more extreme since 2006. In fact, not even findings from the United Nations’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) support Gore’s claim.

The IPCC found in 2013 there “is limited evidence of changes in extremes associated with other climate variables since the mid-20th century.” The IPCC also found “no significant observed trends in global tropical cyclone frequency over the past century” and “[n]o robust trends in annual numbers of tropical storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes counts have been identified over the past 100 years in the North Atlantic basin.”

Gore should probably take these findings seriously since he shared the Nobel Prize in 2007 with the IPCC for its work on global warming.

The North Pole Still Has Ice

Gore also claimed the Arctic could be ice-free in the coming decades. He said “within the next 50 to 70 years, it could be completely gone.”

With no Arctic sea ice, polar bears and all sorts of Arctic animals would be threatened, Gore warned, showing an animated scene of a polar bear drowning.

This is actually one of Gore’s more cautious predictions — he did incorrectly predict in 2008 there would be no Arctic by 2013. But even in this case, Gore is likely wrong because of the Arctic’s geographical setting.

The Arctic is almost completely surrounded by land, so the ice that forms there tends to stay there. Arctic ice coverage has shrunk in recent decades, but it’s not likely we will see even a summer where the North Pole is completely ice-free.

“I doubt the Arctic will be free of all ice in any summer, although the total area may well be greatly reduced in the future if it continues to warm there,” said Chip Knappenberger, a climate scientist at the libertarian Cato Institute.

“Such a situation should not be overly worrisome, as there is ample evidence that it has occurred in the past and clearly, polar bears, and everything else up there managed to survive,” Knappenberger said.

And before I forget, the latest data shows polar bears are actually thriving, despite shrinking ice coverage.

A “Day After Tomorrow”-Style Ice Age Is Still A Day Away

Remember the 2004 blockbuster film “The Day After Tomorrow”? In the movie, the Gulf Stream, which scientists say is essential for regulating the climate, shuts down and ends up causing another ice age.

Well, Gore hints this could happen if Greenland’s ice sheet melts and brings more cold water into the North Atlantic.

“At the end of the last ice age, as the last glacier was receding from North America, the ice melted and a giant pool of fresh water formed,” Gore said. “An ice dam on the eastern border formed and one day it broke.”

Gore said fresh, cold water bled out into the North Atlantic and caused the Gulf Stream to stall, which sent Europe into another ice age. Gore then suggests Greenland’s ice melt could pose a similar threat.

Australian scientists, however, totally debunked claims the Gulf Stream, or AMOC, was weakening.

“Claims of strengthening or reducing of the AMOC are therefore pure speculation,” Aussie scientists wrote in their paper published in March.

Syrian chemical attack survivor has an incredible message for Trump and anti-Trump protesters

byJustin Haskins

A survivor of a 2013 chemical-weapons attack by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad praised President Donald Trump on Friday for choosing to order a missile strike against an airbase in Syria.

Trump, many congressmen, and members of the intelligence community have said Assad is responsible for chemical attacks made against civilians in northern Syria on Tuesday. In the attack, at least 86 people were killed, including 28 children. The Turkish Health Ministry reported on Thursday the nerve agent used in the attack was sarin.

On Thursday, Trump ordered the launch of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against an airbase belonging to the Syrian government. Trump claimed in a statement on the attack that there “can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council.”

Assad’s government has denied it is responsible for the chemical-weapons attack.

Speaking on CNN’s “Newsroom,” Kassem Eid, a survivor of a chemical attack launched by Assad in 2013, said he was “overwhelmed” with joywhen he learned of Trump’s attack.

“I saw the news. I cried out of joy,” Eid said. “I jumped. I thanked God. I don’t know, I was overwhelmed. We’ve been asking for protection. We’ve been asking for consequences for more than six years. And today, for the first time, it happened. For the very first time we see Assad held accountable—just for once—held accountable for his crimes against humanity.”

“I was overwhelmed,” Eid said. “I felt grateful for President Trump. I felt grateful for the United States. I felt grateful for each and every person who lobbied and called, kept on talking until someone actually listened.”

CNN host Brooke Baldwin asked Eid whether he agreed critics of Trump who say the president is being hypocritical by defending Syrians in once instance and temporarily refusing to let Syrian refugees enter the country.

“With all due respect,” Eid said. “With all due respect, I didn’t see each and every person who was demonstrating after the travel ban. I didn’t see you three days ago when people were gassed to death, when civilians were gassed to death. I didn’t see you in 2013, when 1,400 people were gassed to death. I didn’t see you raising your voice against President Obama’s inaction in Syria that led us refugees, that made us refugees get kicked out of Syria.”

“If you really care about refugees, if you really care about helping us, please help us stay in our country,” Eid continued. “We don’t want to come to the United States. We want to stay in our country. We want to stay in our country, with all due respect. This is hypocrisy. If you really care, if you really care, help us stay in our country.”

Eid’s incredible message conflicts with what many critics of Trump have said about Syrian refugees, including Hillary Clinton, who recently said during a speech in Houston Trump can’t “in one breath speak of protecting Syrian babies and in the next, close America’s doors to them.”

see more at http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/04/08/syrian-chemical-attack-survivor-has-an-incredible-message-for-trump-and-anti-trump-protesters/

“Very progressive” blogger changes stance on transgender bathroom issue – when it affects her

by Mike Opelka 

The controversy over people using restrooms that don’t match their biological sex has been raging for quite some time now. People against the change cite men who will take advantage to gain access to women’s restrooms. Those on the “pro” side respond by labeling people as bigots if you have reservations on the issue. Monday on “Pure Opelka,” Mike Opelka shared a story of a liberal mother and influential blogger whose position on transgender bathrooms changed dramatically when a burly man walked into the ladies’ room at Disneyland.

“Very progressive” blogger, Kristen Quintrall Lavin, of The Get Real Mom blog wrote an account of her experience in the ladies’ room at Disneyland. Lavin expressed her shock when a man, who was in no way transgendered, walked into the women’s restroom with no hesitation whatsoever.

“‘In walks a guy with a hairy chest and nine or ten size shoes, and looks like a guy, not even trying, she said. Doing absolutely nothing to make it look like he’s a woman and apparently that’s her litmus test — is how hard you try,” Opelka stated.

In her blog, Lavin recounted how it seemed to make no difference to the man that every woman in the restroom was openly staring at him in clear discomfort.

“‘There have to be guidelines, it can’t be just a feeling.’ Wow, the clouds have parted, the sunshine of truth is descending upon this liberal. ‘The gender debate needs to be addressed, and quickly’ says this mom,” said Opelka, reading from the blog. He went on to discuss how the blogger has come to the conclusion that being shamed into silence for fear of offending someone on this issue has gone too far.

“I’m looking around to see if it’s April 1st. This is a liberal who’s having an awakening, saying this notion that we’re shamed to silence because we might offend someone has gone too far. Thank you, lady!” Opelka concluded.

see more at http://www.theblaze.com/podcasts/very-progressive-blogger-changes-stance-on-transgender-bathroom-issue-when-it-affects-her/

Cartoons of the day

Mark Levin destroys Obama over allegations that he wiretapped Trump

by Chris Enloe 

During a lengthy appearance on “Fox and Friends” Sunday morning, conservative radio host Mark Levin explained why he thinks former President Barack Obama undoubtedly spied on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump during last year’s presidential campaign.

Levin spent the first handful of minutes, nearly half the interview, laying out the evidence for why he believes Obama is guilty, including reading reports directly from mainstream media outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, McClatchy and the Guardian.

When Fox News host Pete Hegseth tried to move the segment along, Levin interrupted, “Hold on! Hold on! I need to make the case because the media seems to be confused about their own reporting!”

According to Levin, the evidence is clear.“The issue isn’t whether the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign or the transition or certain surrogates, the issue is the extent of it,” Levin explained.

“The evidence is overwhelming,” he went on to say.

The conservative radio host continued:

They were so aggressive, they waited four or five months, they go back in October, weeks before the general election, they narrow their request, all of the sudden we have leaks coming out on [Michael] Flynn. Then we have a “Oh horrible” meeting that took place between [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions and so forth. And I’m telling you as a former chief of staff to a United States attorney general in the [Ronald] Regan administration, these are police state tactics.

Now what did Barack Obama know? He knew everything I just read you apart from one or two articles. You wanna know how I know? It’s in the newspapers! It’s right there! So Barack Obama not only knew this, but he gets a daily intelligence briefing.

Later in the interview, Levin emphasized that the case he just previously laid out against the Obama administration wasn’t of his doing, but of the mainstream press — he just pieced it together.

Then he defended Trump.

“Donald Trump is the victim. His campaign is the victim. His transition team is the victim. His surrogates are the victims,” Levin explained. “These are police state tactics.”

“I’m telling you as a former chief of staff to attorney general, if this had been done to Barack Obama all hell would break lose,” he added. “And Barack Obama’s statement [on the wiretapping allegations] is just pathetic.”

Moving forward, to get to the bottom of these allegations, Levin suggested that the two FISA court warrant requests from the Obama administration need to be released, in addition to the daily presidential intelligence briefings from the past year being released to Congress.

“There ought to be public hearings on this stuff, too,” Levin told the “Fox and Friends” hosts.

see more at http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/03/05/watch-mark-levin-absolutely-destroys-obama-over-allegations-that-he-wiretapped-trump/

Violent protesters beat pro-Trump demonstrators

by Chris Enloe 

A small riot erupted Saturday afternoon in Berkeley, California, after violent protesters confronted pro-Trump demonstrators and allegedly began a confrontation that turned violent.

The confrontation occurred on a day when Americans across the country held peaceful demonstrations in support of President Donald Trump, free speech and America.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the pro-Trump demonstrators participating in the “March 4 Trump” rally began marching at 2 p.m. PST Saturday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park. Just several blocks up the road, they were met by counter-protesters dressed in masks and black clothing who began the confrontation.

From the San Francisco Gate:

By 3 p.m., the self-proclaimed anarchists were dominating the crowd. Dressed all in black and wearing cloth bandannas over their faces, they stopped traffic as they marched from the park through downtown with the smaller mix of Trump supporters and counterprotesters. In the park, people opposed to Trump threw eggs and burned both American flags and the red “Make America Great Again” Trump campaign hats.

Photos and videos posted to Twitter and other social media showed fistfights, shouting matches, people being beat with sticks and signs, people pulling hair and some counter-protesters pepper-spraying the pro-Trump marchers, including an elderly man.

As a result of the violence, police in riot gear lined the streets and attempted to control the crowd and stop the violence.

Berkeley police said they arrested 10 people: five for battery, four for assault with a deadly weapon and one for resisting arrest. Seven people were evaluated for their injuries at the scene, but no one had to be taken to the hospital.

According to Matthai Chakko, a spokesman for the city of Berkeley, police confiscated items such as a dagger, metal pipes, baseball bats, two-by-four pieces of wood and bricks.

“A group of people carrying bricks were detained and the bricks were confiscated,” he told the Times.

Some reports also indicate that some of the counter-protesters responsible for the violence came from the militant activist group By Any Means Necessary and the so-called “black bloc,” two groups that many blame for the violence at UC-Berkeley last month.

see more pictures and video at http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/03/05/violent-protesters-beat-pro-trump-demonstrators-at-calif-rally-burn-american-flags-free-speech-signs/