A climate quiz

Warmists usually just pour out abuse at skeptics but sometimes they try to be more factual.  One such effort is a "climate quiz" that came out last year. It pretends to be a factual approach to explaining why there is and will be global warming.  And it is. It does deal in facts -- or the Warmist version of facts, to be precise.

I just did the first 3 or 4 questions and got them all wrong but they were very technical questions so I was not sure how well founded their answers were.  They asked, for instance, "When Glacier National Park in Montana was founded in 1910 it had 150 glaciers. How many are left?"  The answer was allegedly 25. I had no idea how many nor would most people and the answer is probably disputable anyway.

Then I came to a question: "What was likely the first mammal to lose its habitat and go extinct due to the crisis?"

Now the answer to that was really obscure. I did however happen to know the answer that they were looking for: The Bramble Cay Melomy.  And I knew a bit about that story.

Bramble Cay is a 9 acre sand cay which is the Northernmost part of Australia. There is a lighthouse (now automatic) there and some grass.  A type of rat known as a Melomys was known there which in times past was used as target practice by bored visitors. In 2016 scientific visitors could not find any of them anymore.

So how does that relate to global warming?  It doesn't. We have no idea why the Melomys has died out if it has died out. It is just speculation that global warming was to blame.  Most likey it was shot out by visitors.  It is only 34 miles South of New Guinea and New Guineans would undoubtedly eat them. Melanesians are poor but are excellent sailors.

They normally have very little animal protein in their diet. There are no grazing animals in New Guinea.  They were probably all hunted to extinction thousands of years ago. So now all they have is their pigs and an occasional bird. And they can't feed enough pigs to slaughter one very often. So a Melomys would be a treat.

And it is only the Melomys on that cay which is missing.  There are lots of them elswhere in that part of the world.  So it is not even a small tragedy.

I had some more comments on the melomys story in 2016 (Scroll down)

So that's the quality of the "quiz".  In typical Warmist style, its facts are between dubious and wrong and they don't prove anything anyway -- JR





EPA Administrator: Obama’s Emissions Standards Forced Automakers to Make Cars People Won’t Buy

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said the Obama administration’s focus was on forcing car manufacturers to make cars that people won’t buy when the focus should have been on making cars that people actually buy more efficient.

Pruitt said the emissions standards for cars and light trucks set by the previous administration were “inappropriate and should be revised.” His agency announced Monday that it planned to revise the standards, but did not specify what specific standards would be set going forward.

“I think the focus in the past has been on making manufacturers in Detroit, making manufacturers in various parts of the country make cars that people aren’t going to buy, and our focus should be on making cars that people purchase actually more efficient,” Pruitt told reporters.

“To have arbitrary percentages of our fleet made up of vehicles that aren’t going to be purchase, that defeats the very purpose of what the CAFE standards are supposed to address,” Pruitt said.

“We should be focused on making those cars more efficient, because if not, then individuals will stay in older vehicles, as Peter indicated, and emissions will go up, so we will get this right going forward this year, but it is very right for us to be here to recognize that what was done in 2011 and 12 as we evaluate it now is not appropriate going forward, and we’re going to get it right as we address it this year,” he said.

Pruitt said revising emissions standards is “another step” in President Donald Trump’s “deregulatory agenda.”

“This president has shown tremendous courage to say to the American people that America is going to be put first, and I think this mid-term evaluation, the auto sector, the importance of auto manufacturing in this country, the president is again saying, America is going to be put first, and we have nothing to be apologetic about with respect to the progress we’ve made in reducing emissions as a country,” he said.

“We’ve led the world with respect to reduction of GHG, mobile sources and otherwise through technology and innovation, and the auto sector from my perspective has been the leader in achieving that through better design and through better technology, and that’s exciting, and we should celebrate that as a country,” Pruitt added.

SOURCE 





EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Says Media Reports About Him Don’t Tell True Story

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt defended his living arrangement in Washington during the presidential transition, noting that career ethics officials at the EPA found no problems with his choice of where to sleep.

“This was an Airbnb-type situation where I rented literally one room that was used in a temporary status until I found more permanent residence.” @EPAScottPruitt says.

Media reports, Pruitt told The Daily Signal during an interview Tuesday, are incomplete and don’t reflect “the truth.”

“I think the information has been, as things go, I think very intermittent and very sporadic and not terribly complete with respect to what the truth is,” Pruitt said in the interview.

Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. But this can't be done alone. Find out more >>

As Pruitt on Monday announced a rollback of Obama administration emission rules for vehicles in model years 2022 to 2025, multiple media reports focused on the EPA chief’s renting of a bedroom on Capitol Hill.

Pruitt paid $50 a night to the wife of J. Steven Hart, chairman and CEO of the Washington law firm of Williams & Jensen, whose clients include energy companies. He paid Vicki Hart only for the nights he slept in the room at the condo, according to news reports and critics.

“We had a memo and a statement from career ethics officials here that have actually reviewed the lease, that actually reviewed comps—comparables of similar units,” Pruitt, the former attorney general of Oklahoma, told The Daily Signal.

“And I think what’s missed in this: I didn’t rent a unit,” Pruitt said. “I didn’t rent an apartment. This was an Airbnb-type situation where I rented literally one room that was used in a temporary status, until I found more permanent residence.”

This was during his early days in Washington after the president nominated him as EPA administrator, he said.

“My wife wasn’t here yet. My children were back in Oklahoma,” Pruitt said. “The needs were different. As soon as my wife came up, we moved to a different location where I couldn’t just be living out of a suitcase.”

In a March 30 memo, Kevin S. Minoli, the designated agency ethics official, to EPA General Counsel Matthew Z. Leopold, stated:

The regulations issued by the Office of Government Ethics are clear that if a federal employee pays market value for something, it is by definition not a gift under those regulations. … Under the terms of the lease, if the space was utilized for one 30-day month, then the rental cost would be $1,500, which is a reasonable market value.

The lease authorized use by the Administrator and his immediate family, specifically including his spouse and children, and consistent with that provision of the lease his immediate family did stay there when they were in Washington, D.C. The lease did not require payment when the property was not utilized.

Neither of these two provisions render the rental cost under the lease as something other than market value. Therefore, entering into the lease was consistent with federal ethics regulations regarding gifts, and use of property in accordance with the lease agreement did not constitute a gift as defined in those regulations.

But in a letter Tuesday, two House Democrats, Reps. Ted Lieu of California and Don Beyer of Virginia, urged EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr. to investigate the matter.

The lawmakers contend Pruitt didn’t pay a fair market rate because he paid only for the days he stayed in the space:

Administrator Pruitt didn’t pay $1,500 a month. He paid far less because the unusual lease allowed him to have the condo on demand but he only had to pay for the days he stayed at the condo. Over a period of six months, Administrator Pruitt paid only a total of $6,100 for the furnished condo. This is far below market value and, as such, would constitute an impermissible gift under federal regulations.

Asked about Pruitt on Tuesday, President Donald Trump told reporters: “I hope he’s going to be great.”

Trump reportedly called Pruitt on Monday and told him: “Keep your head up. Keep fighting. We got your back.”

Pruitt also pushed back against reports that he rented space from an energy lobbyist.

“The other thing I would say is that the owner of the residence—people, I’ve heard, say that he’s an energy lobbyist,” Pruitt told The Daily Signal.

Speaking of Hart, Pruitt said: “He’s the chairman of a law firm. I’ve know this gentleman for years. He’s an Oklahoman, and his firm represents these [energy industry] clients, not him. There has been no connection whatsoever in that regard.”

Trump reportedly spoke Monday to Pruitt, according to media reports Tuesday. White House chief of staff John Kelly also spoke with the EPA administrator.

Pruitt declined to comment on media speculation regarding his future at the EPA.

SOURCE 






President Trump should stand by EPA Administrator Pruitt

Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging President Donald Trump to stand by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt:

“Scott Pruitt’s tenure as Administrator of the EPA is one of the best examples of a successful cabinet level pick by President Donald Trump.  It is normal that those who are attempting to defend the Obama EPA’s radical stranglehold on our economy would subject Pruitt to a constant barrage of complaints to hamper the deregulatory agenda that is ending the war on coal. Reports from the agency that Pruitt has been subjected to a dramatic increase in threats to his and his family’s safety demonstrates the kind of courage and commitment it takes to unwind the radical environmentalist agenda.

President Trump has been right in the past when he regularly and openly praised Pruitt for his dedication, hard work and commitment to restoring balance to America’s environmental regulations. Now there are those who are attempting to besmirch Pruitt’s reputation through attacks about his Washington, D.C. living arrangements. Let’s be clear. Pruitt received approval from career civil servants in charge of the EPA ethics office that are now being questioned by partisans with a radical agenda.

“President Trump knows better than anyone what it is like to be falsely attacked by people with an agenda and how the anti-Trump news media will accuse first and look for the facts later. Trump should embrace Pruitt as a man of integrity and empower him to continue doing his outstanding work at the EPA, carrying out the Trump agenda to end the war on energy development and make America competitive again.”

SOURCE 

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Australia's Greens leader admits he agrees with conservatives  about one thing – Australia MUST lower its immigration intake

Greens are anti-people so that figures

Greens leader Richard Natale has admitted he agrees with former prime minister Tony Abbott's call to cut immigration.

The left-wing party leader told journalists in Canberra big business was behind the push for high population growth.

'The notion that we need a big Australia based on economic drivers is not one we support,' he told the National Press Club on Wednesday.

'Often this is an argument that is run by the business community.'

With Australia's population set to surpass the 25 million milestone this year, Tony Abbott has called for the nation's net annual immigration rate to be slashed from 190,000 to 110,000.

However Senator Di Natale, who hails from Melbourne, declined to explicitly confirm he agreed with the former Liberal PM even though reducing population growth is Greens policy.

'I don't buy into the debate that Tony Abbott is trying to run at the moment,' he said.

'He is not having a debate about population, he is having a debate about the leadership of the Liberal Party. It is not a sophisticated debate about immigration.'

Under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's watch, Australia's population is growing at 1.6 per cent a year, which is more than double the United States' 0.7 per cent and well above the world average of 1.1 per cent.

Millionaire businessman Dick Smith has called for Australia's net annual immigration rate to return to the 20th century average of 70,000 a year, a position shared by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

Like them, the Greens agree 'population policy should not be primarily driven by economic goals or to counter the effects of an ageing population'.

'The current level of population, population growth and the way we produce and consume are outstripping environmental capacity,' the party's policy platform said.

Despite agreeing with Tony Abbott, Senator Di Natale said the debate about reducing population growth should not be held as the former Liberal prime minister makes efforts to destabilise Malcolm Turnbull.

'We are very happy to have that debate but let’s not have it in an environment when what is ­actually happening is a proxy war between the Prime Minister and the former prime minister,' he said.

SOURCE

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