Honest brokers confront a contrarian

Manhattan Contrarian (attorney Francis Menton) posted, “Why Don’t Global lower Tropospheric Temperatures More Closely Track Atmospheric CO2 Levels?, that “The big news in 2025 for the climate scare was that all of a sudden this scare wasn’t such big news any more.” I left a comment to the effect that the whole CO2 scare was the product of PR, and that like buses, when this one goes away, another eschatological demon would soon follow. I did not use that word, “eschatological”, meaning end times, but I wish I had.

MC did a JFK assassination post, 51 years after the fact still harping on the original script of misdirection from CIA to Russians to Wall Street (he left out the guy under the manhole cover). I suggested that he also consider the umbrella man, who was giving the signal used in movies … “And … action!” I suggested that the assassination was faked, and at that point he decided that my comments needed moderation. This meant that they would appear, and eventually be approved. Today’s comment disappeared. I think that everyone having been been fooled by the CO2 scare is a bridge too far. (I think I stated at the end of the comment that Galileo was not done in only by peer review, but by inability to deal with PR.)

In a similar vein, Roger Pielke, Jr. wrote that “Leaving the IPCC and UNFCCC is Bad for the United States.” I expected no less from him. I’ve been critical of him in the past for buying into the whole CO2 scam, and in this post he suggests that we need world forums to discuss these matters. Even as he is on our side, and I do trust him to state his true views, he inveighs too much on the conciliation side, not wanting to state anything outright that might make him appear less than reasonable. “Reasonable” in our world up to 2025 meant “buy in or be cancelled”. Pielke Jr. was cancelled, though he landed softly.

I left the following comment at Pielke’s post, and await its fate. I’ve not been cancelled, I mean banned yet at his site, but this might provoke it. In the article, he says “… under the legitimizing auspices of the United Nations and World Meteorological Organization …” we took care of the ozone hole, “…widely perceived to have been successful.” I commented as follows:

“I couldn’t help but notice the amazing coincidence that the American patent on the production of freon, the principle chlorofluorocarbon used in refrigerators and air conditioners, expired at just about the same time as freon was banned. Those countries that had begun producing freon without paying for the privilege were asked to stop. And a new chemical compound, a commercial product that would be protected by patent, would soon be substituted and make a lot of money for the company that produced it. Indirect evidence pointing to a decrease in the ozone layer is absurd. ” (Kary Mullis, Dancing Naked in the Mind Field)

Mullis was a contrarian at heart, and so pulled on my strings. He states there that the ozone hole was never a problem, and I suggest it was dreamed up by PR people. That made it easy to fix. He also suggested that the PCR process, for which he won the Nobel, should not be used to diagnose disease. PCR was the primary basis for detection of “asymptomatic carriers”, without which there could be no pandemic. I am yet to decide, as I do my acrostic puzzles, if “asymptomatic carrier” is a euphemism, or oxymoron, or both. Mullis died in 2019.

And, I’ve long lived by the principle that we have Democrats and Republicans prevent the rise of a second party. To me that means that everything Trump is doing could only be done by a titular Republican. As much as I support these efforts, I do not trust him”

Will this be the final straw? I am a paid subscriber to Pielke Jr.’s The Honest Broker, but my $80 a year will not even buy dinner out in Boulder, where I think he lives. (I don’t know where he lives, but know he spent many years at University of Colorado, in Boulder. Nothing more. I live in Morrison, just down the road, but look longingly now at Santa Fe, just down the road again. The home insurers in this area are forcing people to make such decisions.)

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For anyone interested, I ran across a series of quotations from The CO2 Coalition, a feisty group of scientists assembled by Gregory Whitestone, whom I also admire. It has nothing to do with anything, but I like the idea that they took trouble to assemble them in one place, with more to follow. (Author Michael Crichton was a pain in the ass to the established doctrine of CO2 danger during his life, and he wrote a book called State of Fear which had climate alarmists acting as terrorists to advance their cause. I don’t think he got to finish it, as it had side plots that were never completed.)

Here’s the list from CO2 Coalition:

You have likely heard that 97% of scientists agree that increasing greenhouse gas emissions are driving unusual and unprecedented dangerous warming. The 200-plus scientists and experts at the CO2 Coalition take strong exception to this. Many notable scientists and historical figures also disagree on the application of “consensus science.” I don’t see a whole lot of difference between the consensus on climate change and the consensus on witches. At the witch trials in Salem the judges were educated at Harvard. This was supposedly 100% science. The one or two people who said there were no witches were immediately hung. Not much has changed. —  Will Happer In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. —  Galileo There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period. —  Michael Crichton I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned. —  Richard Feynman I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled.  —  Michael Crichton Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue. —  Robert K. Merton When a politician says the debate is over, you can be sure of two things: the debate is raging, and he’s losing it. —  George Will Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri. (Be skeptical of the experts). —  Horace Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you’re being had. —  Michael Crichton The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible. —  Bertrand Russell Genius abhors consensus because when consensus is reached, thinking stops. —  Albert Einstein A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually. —  Abba Eban, Israeli diplomat (1915 – 2002) Audiatur et altera pars. (Let both sides be fairly heard.) —  Fundamental principle of western law