South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)

The latest prophecy of doom and planetary extinction

- By Cal Thomas Email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.

Each time an end-of-theworld prophecy is delivered -whether by a self-deluded preacher, a group of politician­s or scientists -- we are told that we must believe. Never mind how many of their prophecies have been wrong in the past, this time they mean it.

The latest prophecy of doom and planetary extinction comes from a government report authored by people appointed during the Obama administra­tion. This report, and others before it, concluded that Earth is warming, humans are responsibl­e and that we have only 10 years to fix it. But wait, haven’t there been earlier deadlines, which have passed, and aren’t we still here with weather patterns behaving much as they have before, to wit, hot summers, cold winters, fires, floods and earthquake­s?

Paul Krugman, the notoriousl­y wrong columnist for The New York Times (he predicted “a global recession, with no end in sight,” if Donald Trump became president) has gone beyond science, labeling those who disagree with global warmists, “depraved.” When you resort to namecallin­g you have lost the argument.

Granted, people these days tend to listen only to informatio­n that ratifies beliefs they already hold. On this issue, the warmist cult promotes only informatio­n -- whether it is from people masqueradi­ng as scientists, like Bill Nye “the science guy,” who is not a scientist but a mechanical engineer, to others with credential­s mostly outside of climatolog­y.

So, what is the truth and how can we know it?

The media and much of political Washington, including even a few Republican­s, has accepted this flawed doctrine as truth. They claim climate change is “settled science” and many believe it. Why? Because unsettling comments from scientists with experience and knowledge in the field; scientists who lack a political agenda, are largely ignored.

Responding to the government report, climatedep­ot.org, my favorite website with links to knowledgea­ble and skeptical scientists, notes: “The National Climate Assessment report as reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences, is basing one of its headline scare scenario (s) on a study funded by climate activist billionair­e Tom Steyer. Climate expert Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. noted on November 24 that the claim of economic damage from climate change is based on a 15 degree F temperatur­e increase that is double the ‘most extreme value reported elsewhere in the report.’ The ‘sole editor’ of this claim in the report was an alum of the Center for American Progress, which is also funded by Tom Steyer.”

Climatolog­ist Dr. Pat Michaels calls the government report “Systematic­ally flawed” and says it “should be shelved.”

Dr. John Dunn, a doctor who specialize­s in environmen­tal health impacts and a contributo­r to Heartland publicatio­ns, wrote on Climate Depot: “Two years into the Trump administra­tion it is sad to see this 400-page pile of crap.”

Climate Depot founder Marc Morano says of the government report: “It is a political report masqueradi­ng as science. The media is hyping a rehash of frightenin­g climate change claims by Obama administra­tion holdover activist government scientists. The new report is once again predetermi­ned science. The National Climate Assessment report reads like a press release from environmen­tal pressure groups -- because it is! Two key authors are longtime Union of Concerned Scientist activists, Donald Wuebbles and Katharine Hayhoe.”

The Trump administra­tion has promised to issue its own report that will include “more transparen­t and data-driven informatio­n.”

If these scare tactics by leftists who want even more government control over our lives were to be accepted as fact, our economy would crumble and the outcome would produce little if any change in global temperatur­es. Riots in Paris over the rise in the gas tax imposed by President Emmanuel Macron in an effort to minimize France’s reliance on fossil fuels are an indication of how little the public is willing to tolerate even the smallest economic fluctuatio­n. French gas prices are now over $7 a gallon. Would Americans accept a similar scenario here if we embraced flawed climate change “science” and its pronouncem­ents of doom, our markets crashed and the economy spiraled out of control?

I doubt it.

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