Inside the Beltway: Eco-realist slams fake science news

NEWS AND OPINION:

He was a founding member of Greenpeace and served as its president before exiting the activist group in 1986 over differences in policy opinion. He is also a climate change skeptic, and won a Twitter accolade from former President Donald Trump in 2019. That would be Patrick Moore, who has a doctorate in ecology and has written a new book titled “Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom.”

Though green-minded activists and the jittery news media say otherwise, there are no threats of doom, Mr. Moore says.

“My book is an effort to expose the many fake scare stories, most of which are around climate change and CO2, but others include nuclear radiation, and the nonexisting dangerous things in GMOs. All the scare stories about the end of the world and human civilization are based on things that are either invisible, like CO2, or so remote, like polar bears and coral reefs, that the average person cannot see what is happening for themselves,” Mr. Moore tells Inside the Beltway.

“This leaves us dependent on the activists, the media, the politicians, and the scientists on serial government grants, to tell us the truth. But of course they don’t. They make up the scariest scenario they can imagine and then rake in the donations, ad revenue, votes, and more government grants. There are billions involved in this scam,” the scientist continues.

“The only way to counter this fakery is to become educated. The fear campaign is so thoroughly entrenched in daily media that it is impossible to escape. If you read the hundreds of 5-Star reviews of my book on Amazon you will see that readers are thrilled to finally see through the scare stories and realize the world is not so threatened after all. The Earth is in fact thriving, with our CO2 emissions fertilizing and greening the planet worldwide. Even NASA agrees with this,” Mr. Moore concludes.

OREGEXIT

In recent years, several interest groups have insisted California be divided into smaller states. According to the California State Library, there have been 220 attempts to do just that, with newspaper accounts of the efforts dating back to 1890. Then there is “CalExit,” a separate ongoing call for California to secede altogether from the U.S.

The library noted that the process is complex, governed by the Constitution, state legislatures and Congress — and that the last state to break off from an existing state was West Virginia, which left Virginia in 1863 during the Civil War.

All that said, voters in five eastern Oregon counties voted this week to move toward becoming part of Idaho. Baker, Grant, Lake, Malheur and Sherman counties are now joining voters in Union and Jefferson counties, which made that decision last year — in favor of a “Greater Idaho” as the new state.

What has prompted this exodus?

“The grassroots group Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho wants to flip Oregon’s mostly rural eastern and southern counties — plus a few northern counties in California — into Idaho, believing they’d be better off in Idaho’s more conservative political environment,” reports The Oregonian.

If the effort succeeds, 22 of Oregon’s 36 counties will be part of Idaho.

“This election proves that rural Oregon wants out of Oregon. If Oregon really believes in liberal values such as self-determination, the legislature won’t hold our counties captive against our will,” Mike McCarter, president of Citizens for Greater Idaho, said in a statement.

“If we’re allowed to vote for which government officials we want, we should be allowed to vote for which government we want as well,” he noted.

THE PENDING PRICE TAG ON JAN. 6

The Architect of the Capitol revealed on Feb. 24 that damages to the U.S. Capitol topped $30 million following the Jan. 6 riot. Now that the House has approved an independent investigation to probe the origins and outcomes of that heinous event, the cost would go up by millions more. Such investigations can be pricey indeed.

How pricey? Consider that the Iran-Contra probe of officials under President Ronald Reagan went for $38 million, noted an Associated Press report in 1993. The lengthy investigation of President Bill Clinton cost $79.3 million, according to a 1999 CNBC report. The Special Counsel investigation in the Trump presidency rang up a bill of $25.2 million three years ago, according to Politifact.

Would a Jan. 6 investigation also have a lofty price tag? Perhaps the Senate — which now must shout yea or nay on the probe — should skip a costly investigation and drum up some cash for the repairs instead.

WEEKEND REAL ESTATE

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POLL DU JOUR

• 73% of U.S. adults favor increasing training and oversight of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers; 78% of Republicans, 72% of independents and 73% of Democrats agree.

• 60% overall favor fining U.S. employers who hire undocumented immigrants; 73% of Republicans, 62% of independents and 52% of Democrats agree.

• 56% overall favor ending deportations of undocumented immigrants who served in the U.S. military; 51% of Republicans, 56% of independents and 65% of Democrats agree.

• 45% overall favor building a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border; 76% of Republicans, 45% of independents and 21% of Democrats agree.

• 40% overall favor ending the ability of legal immigrants to bring their extended family members to the U.S.; 53% of Republicans, 36% of independents and 33% of Democrats agree.

Source: A National Public Radio / IPSOS poll of 1,176 U.S. adults conducted May 13-14.

• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com.