Opinion
By Jeff Childers
12/15/24
Good morning, C&C supporters, it’s Sunday! Time for your bonus roundup, which today includes: media begins embracing catastrophism but what does it mean?; more weird 2024-style, record-breaking extreme weather news as San Fransisco deals with terrifying and unfamiliar meteorology; far-left activists begin bracing for a very conservative legislative period; JD Vance and President Trump honor subway hero; and ABC coughs up multi-million-dollar settlement for disparaging President Trump.
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This story’s unexpected popularity probably showed how badly the libs must feel this week. A bizarre apocalypse article, based on a recently published astrophysics study, bubbled up through leftwing media this week, finally topping the New York Times’ home page yesterday. It bore the terrifying headline, “Superflares Erupt From Stars Like Our Sun Once Every 100 Years. In case a hundred-year window lacked urgency, the article quickly pointed out, “The findings suggest that we could be due for an extraordinarily powerful solar event sooner rather than later.” Alarming!
The study published this week in the journal Science with a title nearly identical to the Times’ headline: “Sun-like stars produce superflares roughly once per century.” (After the appalling pandemic trend of civilians doing their own research, the journal Science joined many other science journals and locked its content up behind an expensive paywall waived for Establishment types and corporate media. The high priests of science will tell you what you need to know, dummy.)
The article’s gist was that astrophysicists saw “superflare” activity on several other stars in the same class as our Sun. Admittedly, while “a superflare has yet to be observed from our own sun” — at least, not in modern history — out of 56,450 sun-like stars, researchers found that about one in 20 similar stars produced a superflare, and the flares occurred on a centennial cycle, which was much faster than any previous theory.
Let us pause to reflect that the data these scientists used was not new. The information was collected by NASA’s Kepler satellite telescope, which retired back in 2017. The Times suggested nobody noticed till now because they didn’t have good software tools. But I’d suggest that we’re only finding out now because the results are too different from approved orthodoxy, and so no respectable scientists wanted to find them, at least not until conditions improved.
Given the wild solar weather this year, new theories about the Sun are permissible. A little. Welcome to modern science.
Out on the conspiratorial fringe, for years heterodox thinkers have proposed recurring superflare or “mini-nova” events, albeit on longer timeframes than 100 years. For instance, Netflix has now released two seasons of Graham Hancock’s popular show Ancient Apocalypse, which proposes a superflare-like scenario happening around 12,000 years ago during the ‘Younger Dryas’ period, which wiped worldwide civilization off the map.
Ben Davidson runs a YouTube channel called Suspicious Observer, a prepper channel organized around Ben’s theory of small and large geomagnetic pole shifts cycling every 6,000/12,000-year cycles, and caused by miniature nova events like superflares. And as for pandemic favorite The Ethical Skeptic (TES), the data genius who revealed and regularly reported on the CDC’s mendacious jab mortality data meddling, his true love is his well-developed but intellectually challenging theory of a recurring pole/solar disaster cycle. TES is especially fascinated by the highly suggestive weathering patterns on the Great Pyramids:
The left hates all three men and their stupid catastrophe theories. YouTube is brimming with sneering videos “debunking” Hancock, Davidson, and TES. Hancock in particular has been hounded by Orthodox Archaeology for years, decades maybe.
The problem is that Establishment Science is politically allergic to two scientific theories: 1) any model attributing Earth’s changing climate to anything besides human activity, or 2) any model explaining Earth’s geology as being caused by catastrophic events like Noah’s flood, rather than by gradualism, the notion that Nature’s slow, steady, uniform forces can fully explain all Earth’s geologic features.
Since Hancock, Davidson, and TES all argue for catastrophic cycles causing both geology and climate, their ideas are doubly anathema to capital-S ‘Science.’ The arrogant left considers them not just heretical, but as “non-scientists,” instantly disqualifying them right out of the gate for lacking the right credentials (and more importantly, lacking the right politics).
So, considering their long-standing opposition to catastrophism and non-human climate influence, what should we make of the far-left New York Times promoting this catastrophic “every hundred years” superflare story, which violates, or at least threatens to violate, both banned ideas?
And especially since the story lends credibility to heretics like Hancock, Davidson, TES, and other heterodox catastrophists?
The answer is not obvious, and the Times isn’t saying. But recent events suggest a solution. Two weeks ago, the Economist ran a scary science story headlined, “Earth’s magnetic North Pole is shifting toward Russia.” (Cue complaints about Russian disinformation, which is now confusing the North Pole.) “The pole,” the Economist economically noted, “is on the move.” Moving could become problematic. “If the Earth’s magnetic field is disrupted,” the Economist darkly warned, “it may cause problems in technology and navigation, as well as expose the planet to unwanted radiation.”
The Economist said the wandering pole is worrying researchers. “One of the main things researchers are monitoring,” it reported, “is the potential for a full magnetic reversal, during which the North and South Poles would flip entirely.” Now they tell us.
Not coincidentally, the “pole flip” is the same mechanism fueling the catastrophist theories of Hancock, Davidson, TES, about which they have been talking for years.
Ben Davidson in particular has argued that, during a true pole flip, where the north and south poles switch places, the planet will actually partly flip over before righting itself, a literal sort of ‘tipping point.’ This somewhat dramatic event would start fast, in hours or a few days at most. During the flip, the Arctic would temporarily become the tropics and vice-versa. After a few weeks or months, the Earth would then just as quickly flip back as the poles settled into their new places. (This remains a purely heterodox proposal; the Establishment has never publicly conceded that a pole flip can cause any geologic activity, much less move the planet.)
Never mind problems like GPS confusion, crippled compasses, or flocks of birds migrating the wrong way. The physical effects of the flipping could get downright ugly for folks on the surface when it happens. See, e.g., Noah’s Flood, as possibly evidenced by the disquieting wear marks on the Great Pyramids.
No matter how much Establishment Science would like it to, the problem is not going away. If anything, it is getting more obvious by the week, and Establishment scientists, clinging to their tired gradualistic theories, have no idea what’s going on. Headline from Meteored, yesterday:
Here’s the point: Could this year’s increasingly bizarre solar activity (with its astonishing, historic, worldwide aurorae and its weakening magnetic field), combined with the North Pole’s sprinting-speed geomagnetic excursion, be scaring the Establishment into considering previously unthinkable possibilities or, Heaven help us, the potential for a natural catastrophe not caused by cows burping?
These rapidly unfolding events must create a growing sense of urgency for Establishment Science to explain what’s happening, even if only to retain their crowns as experts and prevent customers from going somewhere else. Maybe that urgency, combined with the terrifying ultra-urgency of Trump’s appointment of heterodox scientists to run the main scientific agencies which, after all, award the grants, has the Scientific Establishment feeling especially apocalyptic this week.
Maybe we’re getting somewhere.
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Meanwhile in weird weather news, CNN ran a story yesterday headlined, “Downtown San Francisco experiences first tornado warning in recorded history.” It was another record shattered in this indescribable year of shattered records. At this point, so many records have been shattered, you can barely walk out the front door without stepping on a piece of record strewn on the sidewalk.
Give it’s the same year that introduced us to gorilla hail, “Derechos,” and “bomb cyclones,” perhaps the appearance of the very first tornado warning in San Fransisco’s storied history should be unsurprising. Normally, San Fransisco has been blessed with a very mild climate produced by its unique geography, one obvious result being its “natural air conditioning.”
Severe thunderstorms are uncommon in San Francisco at any time of year, but especially during the cooler months. While the city can experience winter storms that bring rain and occasionally gusty winds, conditions favoring intense thunderstorms—like highly unstable atmospheric layers and strong convection—are rare, due to encircling mountains and the protective bay. Instead, San Francisco’s mild, maritime climate tends to produce mostly gentle rains and cool, damp conditions without meteorological drama like lightning and thunder.
A week following a rare tsunami warning, highly unseasonal “severe storms” swept through San Fransisco yesterday, triggering the aforementioned historic tornado warning. Maximum recorded wind gusts hit 83 miles per hour, tossing cars and trees around and generally making a big wintery mess.
This year’s extreme weather could be due to bovine methane, as Establishment Scientists claim without evidence. Or, if you are a conspiracy theorist, the extreme, record-setting weather could be caused by extremely unusual solar radiation levels that are also causing record-setting aurorae, as well as unpredictable weather events caused by the North Pole sprinting towards Russia.
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On Friday, the Washington Post ran an unintentionally encouraging story headlined, “Energized by next Trump term, red states move agendas further right.” The sub-headline explained, “Governors, legislators and attorneys general ready plans for the ‘perfect storm of conservative policies’ coming to many state legislatures and Washington.”
The article wasn’t so much a news story as it was a warning to its far-left readers to get ready. “Red state leaders,” it ominously began, “emboldened by Donald Trump’s presidential victory, are not waiting for him to take office to advance far more conservative agendas at home.”
Okay, but far more conservative than what? Than Biden?
The WaPo was mostly concerned about the ocean of bills pending in red states, all of which deepened more red during the recent election. In Idaho, a bill would let teachers carry handguns, and let parents sue school districts over LGBT pornography in libraries. In Arkansas, a bill would let police arrest pharma executives for vaccine injuries absent informed consent. Texas is eyeing a raft of potential new laws making life hard for illegals loitering in the Lonestar State, like by cutting off various taxpayer-funded benefits and giving cops more legal tools.
In Florida, Governor DeSantis has requested another $5 million in the budget to continue busing illegals from the Sunshine State to Massachusetts and California.
Remarkably, the story actually quoted several conservatives, including Charlie Misseijer, Florida’s state policy director for Moms for Liberty, who noted that “Florida has been an incubator of ideas.” Matt Sharp of Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group focusing on religious liberties, predicted that Republican attorneys general will shift their tactics, to work with the new Trump Administration to roll back Biden policies.
WaPo was troubled that there are now 27 states run by Republican governors. In 23 of them, Republicans also control both state houses and senates, making a “trifecta” of conservative governance. That, combined with full Republican control of the federal government, created what partisan Democrats called a “perfect storm.”
But don’t worry — Democrats are getting ready. The article also quoted Skye Perryman, an AWFL and the president of “Democracy Forward,” a far-left legal NGO with over 800 lawyers. Perryman said her overfunded group is planning a massive avalanche of lawsuits at all levels of government to try to thwart conservative priorities.
Maybe. Republicans currently enjoy both the moral high ground and all the momentum. I don’t envy Democrat lawyers, who will be starting from a difficult place similar to where we freedom-loving attorneys found ourselves stranded around May, 2020. I say good luck to them, but I hope they fail. We still have much work to do.
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Yesterday, the Associated Press ran a remarkably upbeat story headlined, “Trump gets a warm welcome as he watches Army-Navy game alongside key allies, nominees and Daniel Penny.” It didn’t make what Danny Penny’s been through worth it, exactly, but it was a start.
In case you missed the news, Vice-President-Elect J.D. Vance invited Danny Penny to watch yesterday’s cherished Army-Navy football game from the President’s box. It was a great honor, one Penny will forever remember, and it went a long way toward healing the aching hearts of the many good people who celebrate selfless acts of altruism like what Danny did for his fellow subway passengers and couldn’t stand watching what was happening to him.
But that uncontroversial perspective was not shared by everyone, especially not the partisans infesting BlueSky, a social media platform where far-left Democrats can post their ugliest and silliest thoughts without any fear of Community Notes. Their reaction to Danny’s football-watching invitation was fast, furious, and not fully developed. For example, I’m not sure exactly what point this gentleman was trying to make:
(Mr. Cotlar describes himself as a history professor at Willamette University.)
There were many more, BlueSky is overflowing with outrage about Trump honoring Danny. Most of it was even less rational than Professor Cotlar’s poorly considered thoughts.
Meanwhile, though, the libs of BlueSky were busy making Luigi Mangione into a folk hero:
Note that Ms. Smith enjoys sixty thousand followers on BlueSky.
Finally, AP’s description of Penny’s case was remarkably even-handed, relative to corporate media descriptions. I’m guessing they’re worried about being sued for defamation.
We are thankful for Senator Vance for his gracious invitation to Danny Penny. It looks like they had a great time.
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You’ve probably already heard, but the New York Times ran a truly terrific story yesterday headlined, “ABC to Pay $15 Million to Settle a Defamation Suit Brought by Trump.” The sub-headline added, “The outcome of the lawsuit marks an unusual victory for President-elect Donald J. Trump in his ongoing legal campaign against national news organizations.” Note that the Walt Disney Corporation owns ABC.
The short version is that, within 24 hours after a federal judge ordered ABC’s anchor George Stephanopoulos to sit for deposition and answer questions under oath, and just over a month after Trump’s landslide re-election, after four hours of mediation, ABC threw in the settlement towel and agreed to cough up $15 million dollars in damages plus $1 million in attorney’s fees. ABC also published a weasely “statement of regret,” the wording of which I bet was much more contentious during mediation than was the money.
The Times interviewed a far-left media professor who recited the usual complaints; ABC was bullied into settling by fears of government retaliation, ABC was mostly right when it defamed the President, and so forth. But he was forced to make the astonishing concession that these days, the media is “exponentially less confident that a given jury will value press freedom, rather than embrace a vilification of it.”
Put simply, corporate media realizes that everybody hates them, and editors are terrified they can’t get a fair trial. So settle. The media’s chickens have come home and are comfortably roosting. The media sowed the wind and now is reaping the whirlwind. They made their bed of lies and now they have to sleep in it. Or words to that effect. You get the idea.
Whichever, the combined pressure for ABC to settle on Friday must have been enormous; it’s impossible to tease out any particular factor. The network had several powerful reasons to resolve the case. And the result was pure vindication for President Trump who, one by one, keeps rolling back the worst excesses of the last four years.
Completely separate from anything related to the President-Elect, the professor’s admission about the dire legal implications of society’s loss of trust in corporate media might have been the most important part of this story. How much that might also be true for big hospitals, pharma, and public health in general. How long can a particular group or market segment be hated —“vilified” in the professor’s words— and still survive, at least without radical change?
I sense radical change coming for corporate media. How about you?
Have a blessed Sunday! I thank you for your loyal, unflagging support. Enjoy your day of rest today, and then roll back here tomorrow morning where we’ll kick the week off together the C&C way.
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The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida
