Free Republic

While the cold air was rushing in last evening @dendenator from Sommerville tweeted me asking me if there would be 1 to 3 inches of snow. I quickly replied, no, you might be lucky if you see a flake. Well, I guess there was an abundance of luck this morning as the ground has become coated with snow in many places. The good news is we didn’t see 1 to 3 inches of snow, the bad news is early commuters will have to use winter driving skills one more time. Cold air has been pouring into the country for the...

Cable channel Al Jazeera America, which launched less than a year ago, is slashing expenses and laying off staff as it struggles to gain a foothold in the US. The news outfit is letting go of scores of staffers after its Mideast backers spent millions getting the channel off the ground, according to sources close to the company. “They’re not making their numbers or the revenue they thought,” said a source. “They have a really convoluted background of people in from Qatar [headquarters]. They really don’t get the US market.” Al Jazeera America is averaging just 15,000 total viewers, roughly...

The Earth hasn’t warmed in 17 years. The Arctic ice cap haven’t melted by 2013 as Al Gore suggested in 2007. Instead like the Antarctic ice cap it has grown. Nearly every computer model created by global warming scientists has turned out to be a massive exaggeration if not outright false. Despite all of this the UN has doubled down on their extremist global warming/climate change theories. Meanwhile Adam Weinstein of Gawker wants to imprison “climate change deniers.” Rather than have a spirited scientific debate, Weinstein wants the matter declared settled science. As George Will mused several months back, when...

One of the 70 authors of a draft U.N. report on climate change said he had pulled out of the writing team because it was "alarmist" about the threat. Richard Tol told Reuters he disagreed with some findings of the summary to be issued in Japan on March 31.

GENEVA (Reuters) - There has been no reverse in the trend of global warming and there is still consistent evidence for man-made climate change, the head of the U.N. World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Monday. A slow-down in the average pace of warming at the planet's surface this century has been cited by "climate skeptics" as evidence that climate change is not happening at the potentially catastrophic rate predicted by a U.N. panel of scientists. But U.N. weather agency chief Michel Jarraud said ocean temperatures, in particular, were rising fast, and extreme weather events, forecast by climate scientists, showed...

Good news! As I predicted four years ago, alarmist climate scientist, Michael Mann’s gambit of using the courts to silence debate about his faked “hockey stick” graph is backfiring spectacularly. 17 mainstream media outlets now agree Mann should put up or shut up.

Preface:  The scientific method requires allowing a free-for-all of hypotheses, which then rise or fall based upon the results of actual experiments.  In other words, science means that you throw out theories - no matter how good they look on paper - that are disproven by experimental results, and adopt those confirmed by the results. [Economics is supposed to do that, too ... but hasn't.]For example, putting Galileo to death because he didn’t agree with the “accepted” consensus that the Sun revolved around the Earth was not a great example of the scientific method. Instead of conducting experiments to see...

The founder of Westboro Baptist Church, Fred Phelps, notorious for leading hateful protests against gay rights, is actually a Democrat with long history of endorsing Democratic candidates. On Tuesday, Politico provided some background on Phelps' political history, most of which saw him endorsing Democrat candidates and running for office a number of times as a Democrat. In the 1990's, Phelps ran in three Kansas Democratic primaries for Governor in 1990, 1994, and 1998, receiving only 15% of the vote. He also ran for Senator in 1992, receiving 31% of the vote, and for mayor of Topeka in 1993 and 1997....

After finding out Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. was on the verge of death many quipped the Westboro Baptist Church, the very organization he founded, would picket his funeral like they have so many others in the past. It might sound like a joke but apparently it’s the real deal: the WBC will hold a demonstration at the funeral of their former pastor.Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, was reportedly excommunicated from the group.Phelps Sr., 84, began to make headlines over the weekend after his estranged son Nathan posted a note to Facebook where he said...

You know it has been a cold winter when some Upper Peninsula cities are breaking records that are over 100 years old. We can talk about the average temperature for the winter months of December, January, and February. That is one way to tell how cold the winter has been. For example, Marquette had an average temperature of 7.5 degrees this winter, which is a new record for Marquette. That does indeed sound cold. But a better way to get a feel for the record cold is to count the number of days below zero. We don't really have a...

Al Gore, the former American vice-president and Nobel Peace prize winner, spoke on the second day of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training in Johannesburg on Thursday. The event drew environmental thinkers and activist wankers from around the continent. The corps is a global movement to teach people about climate change and help them adapt to a changing world. In his presentation, Gore gave an overview of how humans were driving climate change and how it was affecting conditions around the world right now. "Whenever any important question is ultimately resolved into a choice between right and wrong, the outcome...

Democrats have decided to lean-in, not back-away, from so-called clean energy. Despite the embarrassing history of government-funded green-energy failures, “wealthy environmentalists are pushing Democrats to take bolder positions on climate change”—and global warming, as an issue, provides the impetus for more green-energy spending. The Boston Globe reported on a recent “summit between Washington’s liberal elite and San Francisco’s climate intelligensia” that included “Senate majority leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, six other senators, and … Al Gore.” The Globe points to new efforts by Democrats to “make global warming a central issue during the midterms.”

CINCINNATI -- Fans of Chipotle may soon have to say goodbye to their beloved guacamole, the company said in its latest annual report. The Mexican fast food chain announced in recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings it could temporarily suspend sales of guacamole and some salsas due to an increase in food costs. Those increases are being caused by global warming, the Denver-based chain said.

Washington, D.C. may have the highest number of certified green buildings in the country, but research by Environmental Policy Alliance suggests it might not be doing much good.The free-market group analyzed the first round of energy usage data released by city officials Friday and found that large, privately-owned buildings that received the green energy certification Leadership in Energy Design (LEED) actually use more energy than buildings that didn’t receive this green stamp of approval.LEED is the brainchild of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a private environmental group.

The 3D printers are coming. And fast. The only debate is over how fast. Velocity matters for stock pickers following the small world of pure-play public 3D printing companies. It is also relevant for business analysts and, perhaps surprisingly, for energy forecasters. 3D printers will — as many have observed sometimes a tad too breathlessly — disrupt a lot of businesses. They will enable and make more profitable many others, while also creating entirely new classes of businesses. The 3D printing ecosystem will as well accelerate the new trend of rising foreign direct investment into the United States. And 3D...

Climate: Al Gore was at it again over the weekend, scaring people unnecessarily about global warming. He, and others like him, should be held accountable for constantly trying to terrify the public. Will they ever be? Preaching Saturday in Kansas City, the former vice president and current hysteric in chief declared while prattling on about the California drought that "the Dust Bowl is coming back, quickly, unless we act." About that first Dust Bowl, the one in the 1930s: Was that also caused by man-made global warming, during a time when human carbon dioxide emissions were much lower? Or was...

The Dingell dynasty dates back to the era of FDR and there’s very little that can stop it from rolling on. Rep. John Dingell announced Monday he’s leaving the seat he took over from his father nearly six decades ago. And now his wife, Debbie Dingell, is planning to announce in the district Friday her candidacy for the open seat, according to a source close to Dingell. Dingell wasted no time putting together a campaign apparatus Monday, holding a conference call last night with her husband’s former aides. She also may sever ties with the American Automotive Policy Council where...

It appears that CNN is now going all in on its assertion that there is no climate change debate. Despite the absurdity of a news organization openly declaring that it is closed to any arguments to the contrary, the CNN Newsroom anchor Carol Costello has proudly declared her mind closed on this topic. In an opinion piece published at CNN.Com, Costello boldly took pride in her refusal to consider facts contrary to her belief in the very first sentence: "There is no debate." Got that? Cased closed and so is her mind as she went on to prove:

Editorial cartoons often aren't pretty, to paraphrase Steve Martin's observation about the perils of comedy. But one found in the Opinion section of today's New York Times is downright ugly. The cartoon, alluding to this year's brutal winter, suggests U.S. Department of Commerce "Strategies for Dealing With the 2014 Icicle Surplus." Among them are using icicles as "locally sourced hydration devices," "temporary doorsteps," and "brainteasers for dogs." Then comes a suggestion that one immediately looks at again, in disgust and disbelief -- icicles can also be used as "self-destructing sabers for dispatching climate-change deniers." (Entire cartoon shown after the jump)...

Al Gore has been known for his climate change warnings since the 2006 film “An Inconvenient Truth.” Former vice president Al Gore spoke about climate change Saturday during the Folk Alliance International conference at the Westin Crown Center hotel. But the former vice president, speaking Saturday in Kansas City, cited many more recent examples how heavy use of fossil fuels is contributing to extreme weather events and trends, in his view.