Posted on 10/07/2016 6:46:30 AM PDT by SSS Two
Matt Drudge, author of the conservative media site drudgereport.com, is being ridiculed over his tweets in advance of Hurricane Matthew's arrival in Florida.
Thursday afternoon and early Friday morning the conservative firebrand took to Twitter to imply that the storm might not be as powerful as government officials say it is.
First he tweeted: "The deplorables are starting to wonder if govt has been lying to them about Hurricane Matthew intensity to make exaggerated point on climate."
Drudge was apparently referring to Hillary Clinton's description of some of Donald Trump's supporters as "deplorables."
Just a few minutes later, Drudge wrote: "Hurricane Center has monopoly on data. No way of verifying claims. Nassau ground observations DID NOT match statements! 165mph gusts? WHERE?"
The National Hurricane Center is a division of the federal government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
And in the wee hours of Friday morning, Drudge tweeted, "Don't Blame Mother Nature. Blame Mankind..." with an unflattering photo of a windswept Clinton and a link to an article on the website climatedepot.com. The Climate Depot article downplays a possible link between extreme weather and climate change.
As NPR has previously reported, officials have urged or ordered millions of Americans along the storm's path to head inland. In Haiti, where Matthew landed as a Category 4 storm, at least 280 people were killed, according to local officials.
Since Drudge's tweets questioning the severity of the storm and official warnings about it, he's drawn sharp rebuke. Democratic U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison tweeted, "So irresponsible. If you are in the path of Hurricane Matthew, do not listen to this man! Stay safe!"
Greg Fishel, chief meteorologist of WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C., tweeted: "Whatever respect I had for Drudge, which was minimal to start with, was destroyed with this tweet. How insanely asinine can one be?"
Others on social media suggested Drudge go to Florida himself, to really find out just how dangerous Matthew might be.
Follow Gregory Pijanowski @G_Pijanowski If Matt Drudge thinks Hurricane Matthew is hoax, why not go to Florida to prove it? 6:19 AM - 7 Oct 2016 1 1 Retweet 6 6 likes
Drudge's tweets tap into a sentiment held by some that climate change is not real, a view at odds with the overwhelming consensus of scientists. Trump, the Republican Party's nominee for president, has said several times that climate change is a hoax. Trump tweeted that it was a myth created by the Chinese, though later said he was joking. (As NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben reported, 2016 seems to have been a year full of conspiracy theories, and they've been very hard to shake.)
And at a campaign event Thursday night, Trump urged people to stay safe and praised Republican Gov. Rick Scott for his leadership as the storm nears. He even offered a sort of warning to those in its path, "It looks like it's a big one and it looks like it's going to be a bad one, it looks like. Hopefully it takes that right turn."
The ‘RAT led federal government lying to the people. Nah...that could never happen. /sarc
At Daytona Beach airport.
Winds north a 41 mph, gusting to 58 mph. A category 1 hurricane is 74 mph. Granted the eye is out at sea, does not look like that big a threat.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-81.02437502441423&lat=29.220380824414107
You would think they would be excited that it stayed off-shore and did not kill anyone- but they actually looked dejected.
A lot of independent weather stations and weather reporting groups out there.
Hillary says the storm was caused by “mankind”, not “mother nature”. Evidently she has been in contact with Al Gore, a fellow meteorologist.
I’ve talked to my family in Florida and they’ve said they get tired of all the storms that get hyped up and turn out to be nothing.
The government/news agencies run the risk of crying wolf too many times the people will ignore when there really is “the big one”.
I think it is a rating TV News thing. 24 hour Info-Tainment needs a Hurricane of impending doom. So everything is over blown with hype anymore.
They want everyone out of the state so they can “fix” the voting machines.
If it was reported than environmentalists took out the electric grid to cause suffering and blame it on global warming, how many people would think
1) No way
2) It could happen but I don’t believe it
3) That sounds like them
I’d bet that very few people answer 1 to themselves even if they answer a poll that way. I’d even bet the closer people are to the environmental movement the more likely they are to answer 2 and even 3. And many of those will be happy if it’s true.
Yes, brought to you by the same knowledgeable people who in 2005 were predicting at least one Katrinaesque storm every hurricane season going forward unless we starting paying carbon taxes.
“Reality” news.
Daughter from around st lucie says they lost a tree, so some stiff winds at tropical storm force level, not hurricane force. Lucie right on coast.
This is so mixed up and confused.
It can be a very powerful hurricane and climate change is a scam.
Or the citizens will come back and find out they have already voted “early”
“Hillary says the storm was caused by “mankind”, not “mother nature”.”
That’s crazy.
“a view at odds with the overwhelming consensus of scientists. “
I didn’t know that science was voted on.
5.56mm
Never let a good crisis go to waste. We gonna need some mo money up in here.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_Who_Cried_Wolf
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