Extreme climate events

[onejayhawk]

Okay, keep on electing people who base their decisions on faith and gut feel, as opposed to evidence and science; we'll see how that works out for y'all.

To keep on we would have to start.

That said, intuition is not a bad way to start a decision process.

J

[B-Fly]

To keep on we would have to start.

That said, intuition is not a bad way to start a decision process.

J

Not a bad way to start a decision process, but a pretty weak way to conclude one.

[Hornsby]

This is a Friday news dump, done when the news is bad for the dumper. To do a Friday News dump on a holiday means that the news is REALLY bad. And it is for Trump. His own Federal Agencies released a report that concludes that climate change is real, and poses a severe threat.

Trump administration's first report on climate change impacts on U.S. sees damages ‘intensifying across the country’

The report’s authors, who represent numerous federal agencies, say they are more certain than ever that climate change poses a severe threat to Americans' health and pocketbooks, as well as to the country’s infrastructure and natural resources.

And while they avoid policy recommendations, the report’s sense of urgency and alarm stand in stark contrast to the lack of any apparent plan from President Trump to tackle the problems which, according to the government he runs, are increasingly dire.

WaPo News Alerts

[onejayhawk]

Not a bad way to start a decision process, but a pretty weak way to conclude one.

True, but we weren't talking about Obama.

J

[Sour Masher]

True, but we weren't talking about Obama.

J

More trolling .

[onejayhawk]

More trolling .

If you say so. I meant it as an observation. An intuition based urge to vote for Obama turned out badly.

If you think BHO was a good President, there is nothing to discuss.

J

[Sour Masher]

If you say so. I meant it as an observation. An intuition based urge to vote for Obama turned out badly.

If you think BHO was a good President, there is nothing to discuss.

J

I do indeed. Far better than or current one.

[nullnor]

the real problem with climate change is that before we can agree to do something, it's going to increase the potential for war. there's going to be food shortages and angry leaders are going to use it to their advantage to divide populations and get themselves elected. Donald Trump is just a very small example of what has already happened many times in the past, and a prelude to the near future. if it can happen here now, you can well bet it's going to really happen somewhere else later.

yet, global war is much less likely to happen nowadays. every major country in power has pretty much what they want. without any similar country willing to challenge it.

i can't even envision how we would organize to do things like spray ash in the atmosphere to reflect sunlight. and if some country did it, how would it affect hemispheres. but eventually someone is going to do it. even a small country not on the security counsel.

but i think we are really underestimating one thing, technology. just the other day i read about how we just broke a law of Newton physics and got magnets to work in a larger conductive state from new meta-materials discovered just 15 years ago.

think about how things were 100 years ago to today...and then think about how today will be different in 2120. the difference will be even bigger. ..you wouldn't think so at first, because here we are sitting thinking that we've discovered everything there already is to discover. but we really haven't. as someone said once, the universe doesn't give up her secrets easily.

you'll have magnetically levitated cars as quickly as you'll have self driving one. you'll have solar panels in Einstein-bosen (quantum-like) states of superconductivity. you'll have planes flying on Ion drives. or i think that's what they are called. and perhaps you'll have cold fusion.

not to push the problem on the next generation, but that's how it works. i don't think they've ever failed. compare the discoveries 100 years ago. brilliant people wrecked their brains trying to start the epiphanies that are now taught in high school. and with our track record of success, anything and everything is possible. more than we can imagine.

[Hornsby]

not to push the problem on the next generation, but that's how it works. i don't think they've ever failed. compare the discoveries 100 years ago. brilliant people wrecked their brains trying to start the epiphanies that are now taught in high school. and with our track record of success, anything and everything is possible. more than we can imagine.

Bless your optimism nully, you're a brilliant guy, and I hope you're right.

[overkill94]

If you say so. I meant it as an observation. An intuition based urge to vote for Obama turned out badly.

If you think BHO was a good President, there is nothing to discuss.

J

It's weird to me how many hardcore conservatives just plain hate Obama. Is it truly a red/blue thing or are there certain policies that irked you?

[onejayhawk]

It's weird to me how many hardcore conservatives just plain hate Obama. Is it truly a red/blue thing or are there certain policies that irked you?

I am not a hard core conservative and I do not hate Obama. Hell, I voted for him.

I am very disappointed in him. Bill Clinton was able to work with the opposition. Obama never tried.

As weak as he was domestically, his foreign policy was worse. We had eight years of outright poor performance, for which both Kerry and H Clinton must bear some blame. For example, you cannot blame Bush for ISIS. The situation was workable when he left office. Obama/Clinton get the lion's share of the responsibility.

J

[chancellor]

It's weird to me how many hardcore conservatives just plain hate Obama. Is it truly a red/blue thing or are there certain policies that irked you?

I don’t hate Obama. Now, Jimmy Carter....that’s a different discussion.

[Sour Masher]

I don’t hate Obama. Now, Jimmy Carter....that’s a different discussion.

I assume you mean you hated Carter the president. I can see that. I hope you don't mean the man and EX-President, though. How the heck can you hate a guy as decent as Carter? One thing I hope we can agree on, is he a heck of an EX-President. Arguably the best, in fact. It would be unfathomable to me how anyone could like Trump and hate Carter as human beings.

I despised Bush, the president. But Id never say I hate the guy now as a civilian. He seems like a decent bloke, when not ruining the country. Same with Carter, but replace decent bloke with practically a saint.

Here is a very early critque of Carter, from 1978, that sums up my sense of who he was as a president--an activist whose ideals didn't lead to clear and effective policies. He was before my time, so maybe I'm missing why anyone would go beyond this assessment toward hating the guy. In fact, in light of our current POTUS, I think we could do with someone who cares about process and not just the goals. Someone who cares about how those goals are achieved.

https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/j...why-he-failed/

[nullnor]

ISIS probably started once GW disbanded the Sunni army. and at the time, not sure if you can say it was the thing to do or not. there's probably Iraqi generals now still embedded with them.

also, Jimmy Carter got attacked by a swamp rabbit. heh i like him tho i guess. a lot of inflation during his reign. i don't know what that was all about. i thought Rosalynn Carter was really pretty.

[chancellor]

I assume you mean you hated Carter the president. I can see that.

Precisely. My POV is the Brookings assessment is far, far too generous toward Carter - they left out the corruption of the "Georgia Mafia", some of which was caught and punished, but much of which was just allowed to go away, the complete lack of a coherent economic policy, which led to double-digit inflation AND unemployment rates through much of the country, lack of coherent energy policy, and a woeful foreign policy focus.

And those are merely the high points.