Kristin Mink Responds To Calls For Civility

Given the Trump Administration Fire Hose of atrocities, this is already old news, still it belongs in this collection dedicated to provoking some deeper thought about what we are doing to ourselves and how we Children of the Intellectual Enlightenment will confront the attack on Democracy, our way of governing and rational thinking that is currently underway.

Teacher Who Confronted Pruitt Responds To Calls For Civility 

The Beat With Ari Melber

Published by MSNBC on Jul 3, 2018

Teacher Kristin Mink, who confronted Trump EPA Chief Scott Pruitt in a restaurant over his mounting scandals and asked him to resign, joins The Beat. Ari asks Mink to defends her actions,

At 6:00 Kristin Mink responds:  

Let me say this first is that I think that this whole debate about civility is a waste of time.  I wish that that the left would stop talking about it because civility is not the issue here!  

You have people who are speaking up there's no violence involved you know this is literally people voicing what it is they care about, to the people whose salaries they pay.  

Right, so if they want to then turn that conversation away from the issues and to, oh it's not the right time, it's not the right place, you're not doing your job.  If you're doing your job properly as a civil servant you want to hear from the people who are paying your taxes.  You want to hear from the people who you're supposed to be supporting and taking care of.

( note - Keep in mind Pruitt’s many secret meetings with powerful industry leaders, all the while evading and stonewalling the public; and our press (USA’s Fourth Estate); and science, as much as possible.  Then there’s Pruitt’s Kremlin level passion for secrecy.  Why did he need all that secrecy? We know, so that he could vandalize the E.P.A. out of sight.  

Our environment is more than an externality!

This ME FIRST cult  proudly despises environmental protections because it cuts into profits.  Collectively they are so myopic as to believe our society lives by profits alone - never appreciating that it’s a healthy environment that provides our life support systems along with all we hold near and dear. 

E.P.A. was created to protect the common health - but now it’s been given over to a gang for whom profits are more important that people or honesty or ethics. )

Kristin Mink continues:  So the issue here is not civility and the whole idea obviously this shouldn't even need to be said but the whole idea of talking about civility is ridiculous considering who we have as our president who has done so many things that are outside the box of civility and kindness and goodness.

It's ridiculous to even spend time on this, you know and I know that.  Representative Maxine Waters you know made some comments about this and that some people on the Left have not been supportive of her.  I think that’s ridiculous.

We should not be spending time nitpicking people who want to criticize others for simply speaking out about what they believe in and I think that it's my it's my right (and duty) as a citizen, it’s my responsibility as a mother and the same thing goes for everybody else in America. …

Greenman, Rahmstorf - "Red Team" Kelly killed it. Opportunities missed, it's a shame.

From a scientist's perspective Dr. Rahmstorf is correct and I completely agree with him.  What everyone seems to be overlooking is what a fantastic public education opportunity a Red Team Blue Team showdown could be.

Blue team, not of scientists, but a team of savvy climate science communicators with thorough understanding of GOP contrarian arguments and tactics along with their scientific understanding.  Why not set it up to provide the public with a close-up examination of the evidence and arguments on both sides?  My thoughts on the opportunity it would provide after Dr. Rahmstorf explains the scientist's perspective.

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greenmanbucket  -  Published on Mar 12, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SwOeFGWLQI

Interview with Stefan Rahmstorf 

There will be no "red team" debate about the settled science of climate change. 

Even supporters of the fossil fuel agenda were too embarrassed to participate.

John Kelly killed Pruitt’s climate science debate

By Timothy Cama  - 03/09/18 

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/377658-john-kelly-killed-pruitts-climate-science-debate

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2:15 exactly "it's just a public show" - that's the point.  

Think about this a little - could be golden opportunity - but rather than climate scientists, make the Blue Team savvy climate science communicators - and then turn the tables on the contrarians!   https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/p/blue-vs-red-team.html.

Demand evidence and facts - when they produce their tainted manipulated evidence and juvenile arguments - call them on it!  Bring it back to the basics - "Just the facts Ma'am."
    
Intellectual Confrontation, expose and describe the game they're playing as they play it.  Of course, it would require very sharp, well spoken individuals with cojones to go with their smarts.  Individuals ready and wanting to dissect and expose the details of how the contrarians' dishonesty and siren song unfolds.

Tear apart their juvenile arguments one after the other, it would be a golden opportunity, the smarter folks at the WH realize it better than we, so it's not happening.   What a lost opportunity, I myself believe taking their bluff in this election season could be a shrewd move.  

Why not put together our own R-B team - either with actual contrarians, or with videos of their words, since they never seem ready to debate on an even playing field.  Put contrarian arguments, and their reason on trial.

It might also offer a great platform to proclaim that, a sane society requires that we honestly represent our opponents' positions - yes, also to listen to corrects - life is a learning process.  Mistakes are learning opportunities and should not get frozen into bludgeons.  

Repeatedly and willfully ignoring corrections (object facts and data) to one’s own mistakes is a whole other story that needs to be exposed when it happens.

We have a duty to honestly represent known physical facts and evidence.

Repeating factual lies, should be called out, and dogged, dogged, dogged until the errors get acknowledged.  Not attacking people, attacking the idiotic lies!  That would be so much better and more productive than the silent acquiesce that extends a free pass for malicious lies to flourish.  

Seriously, think about what's happening in public media and the news, we've allowed the Alt-right to own and dominate the narrative so completely that in politics lying about the most important of facts and using malicious dirty tricks have become standard operating procedure, enjoyed with a ghoulish joy.   

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Start with a simply factual review of our global heat and moisture distribution engine and the atmospheric insulation that makes our Earth habitable.  A quick review of our complex biosphere (of a sense of its folds within folds of cumulative harmonic complexity) and how all within it is a product of the available energy and the resulting climatic regime.  

How changing the mean temperature of the Earth impacts this biosphere and its inhabitants.  It can be done in a fairly short period of time.  Perhaps touch on uncertainty vs. certainty issues; map vs. territory problem; "How exact does our data need to be to know enough?"; and such.

Then turn the discussion over to the competing arguments, logic and evidence.  

Turn the klieg lights on the GOP's dishonest maliciously fraudulent debate tactics. 

WHY CONTINUE TO ALLOW the GOP AND the KOCH KLAN TO DICTATE THE NARRATIVE?

2018 is a frightening election season with more at stake than in any time in America's history (suggest a rival if you can) my nightmare is that too many people still don't appreciate what's at stake, or even the game being played  - what we don't know, will hurt us.

If we don't all start engaging, and networking, and learning, and informing, and engaging more friends, and doing it now, things could get very dark indeed.  Check out this info kiosk:  http://americansforkochsprosperity.blogspot.com

Dr. Schneider 2008 - Do we know enough to warrant action?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXaruC4vJCU

Stanford  |  Published on Sep 15, 2008  |  Stephen Schneider

July 24, 2008 presentation by Stephen Schneider for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series.  

Professor Schneider discusses the local, regional, and international actions that are already beginning to address global warming and describe other actions that could be taken, if there were political will to substantially reduce the magnitude of the risks. 

The Stanford Summer Science Lecture Series is a set of informal lectures about cutting edge research from four of Stanford's most esteemed professors.

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Pruitt's Red Team Challenge, bunch of Hot Air

Updating Pruitt's Red team Blue team challenge, December 15th, E and E News’ Robin Bravenender reported, EPA air chief Bill Wehrum attended a White House meeting with Trump energy aide Mike Catanzaro, deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn and others to discuss the future of the debate and it has been put on hold.  {Brought over from my new Confronting Science Contrarians.blogspot}

I’m not at all surprised, after all Republicans have way more to lose.  Republicans are the ones performing the flim flam.  I think it’s a wonderful idea, compose a Blue team of savvy, well spoken, sharp-witted science communicators who have a deep understanding of Republican's war on rational constructive science debate and learning, along with the ability to enunciate today’s climate science understanding under fire.

No, not real climate scientists!  Scientists have had their constructive debates (among competent experts who understand the details such as the math, science, unexpected complexities and such.).  Scientists have published their results.  Scientists' work is On The Record!  Scientists are busy using their talents to continue the research.  Leave the politics to the public arena.

Use the Red team Blue team confrontation to force Republicans to show their cards.  Seems to me a wonderful opportunity to publicly expose their fraud.  That's why I'm working on a few posts related to pursuing the challenge, even if only from a distance.

Trump team puts controversial ‘red team’ challenge to climate science ‘on hold’

By Robin Bravender, E&E News  |  Dec. 15, 2017 

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/12/trump-team-puts-controversial-red-team-challenge-climate-science-hold

Rising to the Red Team - Blue Team Challenge. Get Strategy.

“Scott Pruitt, the deeply mistrusted head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, confirmed ... his plans to launch a “red team-blue team” exercise on the subject on climate change could reach fruition as early as next month. …”

“Scott Pruitt’s call for a ‘Red Team, Blue Team’ debate on climate change is a farce and a distraction,” said Peter Frumhoff from the UCS after Pruitt’s hearing. “If he has questions about climate science, he should turn to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, not hacks from the Heartland Institute. …”

Scott Pruitt Confirms “Red Team–Blue Team” Climate Exercise Could Launch As Early As January  |  December 11th, 2017 by Joshua S Hill  

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The internet is abuzz with handwringing over the prospect of Pruitt's "red team - blue team" competition to "establish" the validity of the scientific understanding of human caused global warming, (see the recent SkepticalScience.com article I’ve reposted below.)

Trump Administration is looking forward to making a theater out of climate science and scientists are rightfully upset.  

Yet, it seems to me this exercise provides a wonderful opportunity for some savvy science and history communicators with the right stuff  to stand up and turn the table on these fraudsters.  

Reject their script and use this opportunity to expose the contrarian mishmash of inconsistent nonsense, lies and slander.

Use the moment to expose their dishonest rotten underbelly!

(originally posted at my new ConfrontingScienceContrarians blog)