Weathering the Punches By Julie Kelly
As the nation continues to debate the critical, constitutional question of who can be punched and who cannot be punched (I vote for permitting the punching of slow drivers in the left lane and anyone who drinks Riesling), it appears the “peaceful” Left has a much more expansive list of acceptable human-punching bags. Liberals encourage their mob to assault not only Nazis, white supremacists and conservative speakers on college campuses, they are now advocating violence against people who dare to challenge the reigning dogma on manmade climate change.https://amgreatness.com/2017/09/07/weathering-the-punches/
Two destructive hurricanes in the span of one week have emboldened the climate bullies. One of the most unhinged is actor Mark Ruffalo, best known for his role as Bruce Banner/the Hulk in Marvel’s multi-billion-dollar-earning Avengers movie series. Ruffalo must think that playing a scientist on the silver screen imbues him with some special scientific powers and moral authority, much like Martin Sheen started to think he was the president because he played one on The West Wing. Ruffalo is an outspoken—albeit ignorant and misinformed—climate activist who continues to cling to the thoroughly debunked idea that the country can be fully powered by renewable energy sources. He is also a Trump-hater and progressive rabble-rouser.
On Wednesday morning, as Hurricane Irma began pounding Caribbean islands on its alarming path towards Florida, Ruffalo was less Bruce Banner and more Hulk:
I know not all people in the GOP are deniers. But their leadership is and they are in part responsible for these disasters going forward. https://twitter.com/markruffalo/status/905408275734245377 …
(Ruffalo was subtweeting another noted climate expert, Star Trek actor George Takei.)
One could write this off as just another emotional rant from an uneducated Hollywood celebrity. But Ruffalo has quite a following, including 3.4 million Twitter followers and the media’s admiration. So it is not without consequence when the actor invites his minions to attack a Trump Administration cabinet official and anyone deemed a climate change denier. Considering one of Ruffalo’s fellow Bernie Bros tried to assassinate several Republican congressmen earlier this summer, nearly killing one of them, it’s outrageous for a top celebrity activist to fan the flames in this kind of political environment.
It’s also a bit ironic, since he routinely tweets about love, compassion, and tolerance. But Ruffalo’s hypocrisies don’t stop there. Ruffalo claims to be a feminist champion except for conservative women (you can read about that here.) He regularly protests the use of fossil fuels, blasts corporations like Exxon, and demands states such as New York stop fracking, but he works in the entertainment business, one of the most energy-intensive industries. He is also an ardent foe of genetically engineered crops, which have numerous environmental benefits including retaining carbon in the soil and withstanding climate impacts.
His movie character isn’t the only thing about him with a split personality.
In a subsequent tweet, Ruffalo also blamed Republicans for future storms:
Now, it would be an utter waste of time to ask Ruffalo to explain the 12-year hurricane drought the United States has just experienced. Or to ask him why global temperatures have not risen anywhere close to what climate models projected over the past few decades. Or to ask him if he knows how ocean temperatures were measured in the past (by lifting buckets of seawater onto ships and sticking a thermometer in them. Sounds accurate, right?) Or to ask him to offer the data and evidence proving any anthropogenic influence in the frequency or severity of these storms.
Why bother with science when you can promote your progressive—and now, violent—agenda?
In a post Wednesday afternoon, Mark Hertsgaard, writer for the Nation, insisted climate deniers should be treated like murderers for “crimes against humanity.” He called for climate deniers to be punished, blaming them for the deaths of Hurricane Harvey victims and even exploiting the loss of a Texas toddler’s mother. Hertgaard wrote:
With Hurricane Irma churning toward Florida, the horrors and heartbreaks will only get worse until we change the game for their perpetrators. The first step toward justice is to call things by their true names. Murder is murder, whether the murderers admit it or not. Punish it as such, or we encourage more of the same.
It’s not just hurricanes that are making climate activists brutish; the election of Donald Trump and appointment of Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA have brought out the pitchforks from the pointy-heads. In a July interview, Bill Nye “the Science Guy” said the climate tribe just needs a little help from the Grim Reaper to make more progress: “Climate change deniers, by way of example, are older. It’s generational. So we’re just going to have to wait for those people to ‘age out,’ as they say. ‘Age out’ is a euphemism for ‘die.’”
After the March for Science earlier this year, bullet holes were discovered near the office of Dr. John Christy, a leading climatologist at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Christy refutes much of the government-generated data on global temperatures and is a target of climate activists.
Democrats are imposing a climate change litmus test for Trump appointees, including Sam Clovis, Trump’s pick for a top post in the Department of Agriculture. Senate leaders are demanding the president “withdraw the Clovis nomination immediately—not only because he is a proud ‘skeptic’ of climate change and wildly unqualified for the position of USDA chief scientist—but also as a gesture to the American people that this administration is serious about rooting out the most hateful voices in our society.” (Clovis has said disparaging things about former Attorney General Eric Holder, so of course that means he’s a racist.)
But it’s not just Trump appointees who should be judged. One activist wants all Americans to go on record with their position on climate change. Charles Wheelan, a writer and economist, recently suggested this:
I have a modest proposal: a climate change “registry.” This would be a simple petition, albeit with a twist: Each of us would be asked to sign our name to one of two statements:
- Yes, I believe that the risk of climate change is significant enough that we ought to take action now to reduce the possibility of future harm.
- No, I do not believe that we should take any action now to prevent climate change.
Why do I want to circulate this petition? Because I believe history is a powerful judge. Those who are standing in the way of sensible climate action ought to be held to account, if only in the eyes of their grandchildren who are at risk of paying the price for our inaction.
Wheelan then wondered “what some petitions might have looked like in the past,” including declarations on civil rights and the Vietnam War.
These are not the signs of a vigorous, science-based movement. They are the nervous spasms of a malevolent crusade that has less to do with ecology and more to do with ideology, beating into submission anyone who dissents. Now, it’s leading voices are aligned with the same folks who wear black masks and tell you it is OK to punch Nazis. Wonder who is next?
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