Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Domestic Policy, Economy, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Junk Science, Politics, Progressives, Regulation, Science/Technology, The United States | Tags: California's Burning, Forest Management, Trump's Fault?
California is still burning up. Most of the fires seem to have been caused by sparking of power lines, and PG&E is under attack, and may go under. Except by former California Governor Jerry Brown who went on to Face the Nation to pointedly explain that the fires are directly caused by Donald Trump and the Republicans because of their opposition to drastic climate change policies.
Fortunately the Republicans at the Ronald Reagan Library explained how it should work. They brought in a herd of goats back in May to graze the area and dispose of tinder dry weeds and underbrush. It’s called forest management.
President Trump is to be in California on Saturday to honor the fire crews who worked so hard to save lives and towns in the Camp Fire in Butte County, the most destructive fire in California history.
Brown joined Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Wednesday on a tour of areas in and around the Butte County town of Paradise that were devastated by the Camp Fire. At least 71 people were killed in the blaze and more than 11,000 structures burned. The number of people reported missing since the blaze jumped to 1,011 on Friday as crews continue searching for bodies in the wreckage.
Three people have died in the Woolsey Fire in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. The blaze has destroyed 616 structures. Newsom has toured both the Camp Fire and Woolsey Fire in recent days, saying he was “in awe of the strength and resilience” of the survivors and thankful to first responders.
Forest fires are not caused by global warming. Hurricanes and earthquakes are not caused by global warming, nor are tornadoes, and forcing Americans to buy electric cars (Chuck Schumer’s latest bright idea), would be a disaster. The climate is actually cooling slightly, as the sun has entered a low sunspot phase.
Victor Davis Hanson who is a 3rd or 4th generation Californian writes plaintively “Is California Becoming Premodern?” I lived in California for too many years, and was glad to leave. California has the worst poverty rate in the country, and Silicon Valley is having big arguments over whether they should allow Republican campaign ads at all. We are harassed ever day by what some faded movie celebrity had to say in an attempt to revive a career. It simply shows the paucity of news reporters efforts to grasp what is happening in today’s world. Way too much of what somebody whose name we might recognize said, and way too little of what their research has shown. (because they didn’t do any.)
American Elephants 