Alan Zweibel

Climatologists.

Not only don't you like lectures, apparently, you don't like science either. What has Leonardo di Caprio's hypocrisy got to do with the science? As for vested interests, you mean Little Oil against Big Green?

How does the standard you set, a standard that invalidates the results of virtually all scientific research, not just climatological research, affirm your point? But thanks for providing the irony. Truly ludicrous.

The issue has been raised before. Richard Muller, an eminent physicist questioned climate temperature readings on the same grounds. He got funding from denialists to explore the possibility despite the fact that climatologists advised him that they had already taken that into account. His findings? That, in fact, climatologists were telling him the truth. Muller went on to found Berkeley Earth, an organization dedicted to climatological research. https://www.aaas.org/taxonomy/term/4/richard-muller-now-convinced-world-warming As you might imagine, the denialists who were eagerly awaiting the results of his research, no longer mention him or the results of his research.

To expound a little further. If you're going to base a critique on the possiblity that there's a one in a million chance that they've got it wrong, then there is no progress in science. On the hand hand, such a criterion would make a great basis for fiction.

There is no such thing as absolute proof in science. If your criterion were valid we'd still be living very much as people did in the the early part of the 20th century. But there are levels of statistical certainty. That's what modern science, technology, and businesses depend on.

Your comment makes no sense. By your lights no scientific evidence is to be trusted. What does that have to do with politicizing science?

Where in the sciences is there ever evidence of absolute proof? Even in experimental physics, which is taken as the gold standard, there is always a small possibility of statistical error in drawing conclusions. Your comment is just another form of silly denialism masquerading as a quest for truth. Ever hear of five sigma?

The late unlamented Donald Rumsfeld once said in regard to WMDs "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence " You've taken it one step further: Absence of evidence is evidence of guilt.

Or, you have no answer for what I wrote so you resort to this class of denialism instead. Let me boil it down for you: what's going to happen in Venezuela if Maduro gets deposed? Why will the drug running business suffer? And there's this: does the US plan to have boots on the ground to enforce law and order in Venezuela?

Ah, maybe you have hit on an explanation of why Trump is targeting drug runners from Venezuela instead of those from Colombia and Ecuador where most of the US supply comes from. He's doing it because of his fondness for Nigel Farage. He is spending American treasure, and, possibly in the future American lives to stop cocaine from reaching Europe. And he pardoned the drug-running Honduran ally of the cartels because he wanted to encourage cartels to send their cocaine north instead of east. In a way it's heroic. He's throwing the United States on a hand grenade endangering Europe. Now, to be fair, there are some cynics who say that given that Venezuela is a relatively minor player in shipping cocaine to America, that this is just a pretext for deposing the Maduro government. That even if the Maduro government is deposed, cocaine transshipments will continue as usual. They point to the example of Ecuador, which used to be a very peaceful country until the narcotrafficantes began to use it to export cocaine to America. And despite the fact that the Ecuadorians elected a president who has led a harsh military campaign against the cartels, he has been ineffective in stopping shipments to the USA. But somehow if Maduro is deposed, the cocaine transshipments will cease? The military and civilian police forces will forswear their very profitable alliance with the cartels? These Trump hating leftie scoundrels even go so far as to predict that once Maduro is deposed, the US military forces will be dispatched elsewhere and the drug running will continue as before. The problem with such persons in not only that they don't believe in Trump, but also that they don't believe in magic.

Those "alleged smugglers" gave up all their rights when they started that journey? Really? And of course, even if they were running drugs, the only place where their right would no longer exist would be in a special venue commonly known as a kangaroo court.

Obviously a ploy to get Hegseth off the hook. Keep in mind that when news first broke about this, Hegseth didn't deny that he made the decision. "With indignation, but without trying to refute any of the factual claims in a Washington Post report about the strikes, Secretary Hegseth asserted, “As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.’” But the laws of armed conflict prohibit lethal, kinetic strikes against combatants who’ve been rendered hors de combat (i.e., out of the fighting); hence, it is not a defense to say, “But it was our intention all along to kill them.” Not surprisingly, the White House figured out that this wasn’t going to fly, so we now have an actual defense." https://archive.ph/H0Eco The current claim is obviously suspect: "Of course, if it is true that he didn’t give the order, how odd was it that Hegseth’s first two responsive posts over the weekend were exactly what you would expect from someone who did give such an order: first, the above unflinching declaration of intention to execute “lethal” strikes, and second, the cruder, “We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.” https://archive.ph/H0Eco

So, I point out that the evidence you used to defend Trump's drug war effort was irrelevant since it happened during his first administration. Also, I pointed out that cocaine transshipped via Venezuela goes mainly to Europe, not the USA. And what you offer in response is this? "This echochamber of severe Syndrome sufferers is suffocating."? And you claim I'm the one suffering from some sort of derangement? It is to laugh.

White House says admiral approved second deadly boat strike The White House on Monday confirmed a second strike in September had killed wounded civilians after the first effort failed, and put responsibility largely on the naval commander leading the mission. Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said U.S. Special Operations Command head Adm. Frank Bradley was “within his authority and the law” in conducting the second strike on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean, after the force of the first strike tossed them from the boat. Her comments appeared to try and defend Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth, who came under fire over the weekend after The Washington Post reported that he authorized an elite military unit to kill everyone in the alleged drug boat. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/01/white-house-second-boat-strike-00671488

And even if the DOJ prevails at the supreme Court, the fact is that it still has extraordinarily weak cases against Comey and James to contend with.

Italy and Canada have raised concerns about the treatment of their citizens who were beaten and robbed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. Three Italians and a Canadian were attacked early on Sunday morning in the village of Ein al-Duyuk, near Jericho, where they had volunteered to help protect the Palestinian population from intensifying settler violence. All four were hospitalised and one, an Italian man, was still receiving care in Ramallah on Monday for more substantial injuries. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/01/italian-canadian-volunteers-beaten-robbed-israeli-settlers-west-bank I'm sure that the Israeli police force and the IDF will investigate this crime with its usual passionate level of indifference.

Change per se isn't the problem. It's the accelerated rate of change.

Honorable people back up their claims. They certainly don't persist in them without offering evidence.

the climate is changing all the time and the Earth is still here!! And where are all the plants and creatures that existed then? Anyway, yes climate is changing all the time. But it's the rate of change that's significant. Let me put it this way. If a bank offered you 2 kinds of savings account that were exactly identical except one offered you 10% interest and the other 1% interest, which one would you take? It's the accelerated rate that makes climate change a problem not the fact of change itself.

Yes all over the world that's the case. And not only power plant construction. But individuals who are installing solar power in their homes and making money on it as it repays for itself an investment. And all those people in developing economies who are flocking to solar power. It's all part of a big conspiracy. And if only you had the you could bust the whole conspiracy wide open. It's a pity that such an investigation is also too expensive for investigation by fossil fuel companies or petro-states who as we know are perpetually short of cash since such a revelation would be a major boost for their future profitability. Maybe you could start a movement to pass the hat around and lend them what they might need to finally bust Big Green wide open.

How do you construe that falling prices of real estate means living is becoming more expensive? Actually, the opposite is the case: The True Cost of China’s Falling Prices Bloomberg analysis shows deflation on the ground feels more pronounced than official data show, with prices of everyday goods plunging and the share of loss-making companies at a 25-year high... Using data on almost 70 everyday products and services from multiple sources, our analysis showed prices dropped more sharply than the headline Consumer Price Index indicates, especially for goods that ordinary consumers buy... The analysis showed that prices are unmistakably dropping. Among 67 items tracked by Bloomberg News, prices on 51 dropped over the last two years. https://archive.ph/td0P9

Two of China's private data agencies, China Real Estate Information Corp. and China Index Academy, withheld monthly home sales figures at the government's behest. The agencies were told by China's housing bureau to suspend making the figures publicly available until further notice, but financial institutions who paid for the data will still have access to it. The missing housing data could increase uncertainty about the struggling sector's condition, with analysts expecting the November data to show steeper declines in new-home sales. https://archive.ph/8i63K#selection-1513.0-1525.178 The article goes on to say that alarm was sparked by a major real estate developer seeking an extension to make payments on a loan. The insanity of China's building spree was noted by outsiders long before it occurred.

Gee, saying propaganda would never lie? Do I have to explain why that's a clueless comment? Next, you're going to tell us that all the reports about how renewables are dominating new power plant construction is a lie. Or that developing nations aren't flocking to its use. It's all a massive conspiracy and you've got the evidence to prove it but you're not ready to share it with us yet?

Sure. It's a massive conspiracy with scientists from all over the world trying to put one over on a fraud. The only intellectual dishonesty here is typified by the likes of you who take the easy way out to dismiss information that is unpalatable.