Monbiot Considers The Problem With Freedom

As I've lamented before, my passion for writing about these issues is at the bottom of my real life duties and expectations priority list.  The spring-time jobs are coming in fast an' furious, three posts laying there waiting for some free time.  I did notice an interesting read worth sharing while I'm out on assignment.  Once again George Monbiot nails it.
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The Problem With Freedom Posted: 07 Apr 2017 01:05 AM PDT Freedom is used as the excuse for ripping down public protections on behalf of the very rich. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 5th April 2017 http://www.monbiot.com/2017/04/07/the-problem-with-freedom/ Propaganda works by sanctifying a single value, such as faith, or patriotism. Anyone who questions it puts themselves outside the circle of respectable opinion. The sacred value is used to obscure the intentions of those who champion it. Today the value is freedom. Freedom is a word that powerful people use to shut down thought. When thinktanks and the billionaire press call for freedom, they are careful not to specify whose freedoms they mean. Freedom for some, they suggest, means freedom for all. In certain cases, this is true. You can exercise freedom of thought and expression, for example, without harming other people. In other cases, one person’s freedom is another’s captivity. When corporations free themselves from trade unions, they curtail the freedoms of their workers. When the very rich free themselves from tax, other people suffer through failing public services. When financiers are free to design exotic financial instruments, the rest of us pay for the crises they cause. Above all, billionaires and the organisations they run demand freedom from something they call “red tape”. What they mean by red tape is public protection. An article in the Telegraph last week was headlined “Cut the EU red tape choking Britain after Brexit to set the country free from the shackles of Brussels”. Yes, we are choking, but not on red tape. We are choking because the government flouts European rules on air quality. The resulting air pollution frees thousands of souls from their bodies. Ripping down such public protections means freedom for billionaires and corporations from the constraints of democracy. This is what Brexit – and Trump – are all about. The freedom we were promised is the freedom of the very rich to exploit us.

#B-Unauthorized annotation of Chairman Lamar Smith’s March 29 Climate Science statement. (2 of 2)

US House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith had a hearing March 29 during which he made many claims and insinuations which are frankly false.  
In this exercise I keep my commentary to a minimum and allow scientists to speak for themselves by way of a number of embedded YouTube videos.  If the videos don’t work for you, I’ve included the URL’s so you can link to them.  I also included links to other resources where appropriate.  This collection is for sharing.  For more of an introduction you might try: Confirmed Lamar Smith Manipulated Bates (feb 5th) A Line by Line Review.  Official Hearing Record:

https://science.house.gov/legislation/hearings/full-committee-hearing-climate-science-assumptions-policy-implications-and

For Immediate Release Media Contact: March 29, 2017

Statement of Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas)

Climate Science: Assumptions, Policy Implications, and the Scientific Method

Part 2 
{Link to Part 1}

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Chairman Lamar Smith continues:  For example, the Science Committee heard from whistleblowers that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) employees put their “thumb on the scale” during the analysis of data.

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Recent Ocean Warming has been Underestimated

Zeke Hausfather

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnyX32nkYBs&t=9s

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Bruce Wielicki - Climate Change: Fact And Fiction 

Dr. Bruce Wielicki senior scientist for Earth 
science at NASA's Langley Research Center - cloud expert

TEDx Talks | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YNfA7mDri4

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There's more to this claim of "thumbs on the scale," for the rest of that story link to and check the list of information rich stories:

Confirmed Lamar Smith Manipulated Bates - 

A Line by Line Review of Smith’s February 5th statement.

http://whatsupwiththatwatts.blogspot.com/2017/02/confirmed-lamar-smith-manipulated-bates.html

#A-Unauthorized annotation of Chairman Lamar Smith’s March 29 Climate Science statement. (1 of 2)

US House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith had a hearing March 29 during which he made many claims and insinuations which are frankly false.  
In this exercise I keep my commentary to a minimum and allow scientists to speak for themselves by way of a number of embedded YouTube videos.  If the videos don’t work for you, I’ve included the URL’s so you can link to them.  I also included links to other resources where appropriate.  This collection is for sharing.  For more of an introduction you might try: Confirmed Lamar Smith Manipulated Bates (feb 5th) A Line by Line Review.  Official Hearing Record:

https://science.house.gov/legislation/hearings/full-committee-hearing-climate-science-assumptions-policy-implications-and

For Immediate Release Media Contact: March 29, 2017

Statement of Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas)

Climate Science: Assumptions, Policy Implications, and the Scientific Method Part 1 {Link to Part 2}

Chairman Smith: Today we will examine the scientific method as it relates to climate change. We must ensure that the underlying science that informs policy decisions is based on credible scientific methodology.

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STATE OF THE CLIMATE IN 2015 - Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 

NATIONAL CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION | August 2016 (v97n8)

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/monitoring-content/bams-sotc/2015/bams-sotc-2015-briefing.pdf

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A Climate Minute - Climate Science History

John P Reisman  |  (starts at 0:17)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czRDS3jTM4o

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I believe the climate is changing and that humans play a role. 

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Tendency to underestimate climate impacts

UQx Denial101x Making Sense of Climate Science Denial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfggcaM666s

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However, I also believe significant questions remain as to the extent.

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WHAT ARE THESE SIGNIFICANT QUESTIONS?