Ignorance, like history, repeats itself when people refuse to learn from it. One lesson we should have learned is that science and ideology do not mix. We saw this during Biden’s disastrous COVID response, which gave the U.S. the worst COVID death rate in the world. Yet some people still cling to COVID Vax/Lockdown Ideology. So it is with Climate Ideology.

Last September, Hurricane Helene tracked north into southern Appalachia, bringing massive flooding to western North Carolina. Immediately the Gnostic cry went up: Climate change! Of course, people making this claim couldn’t be bothered to check their claim against historical data — like an actual scientist would.

However, a few honest scientists did provide some inconvenient truths about the North Carolina flooding:

— There was an identical storm in 1916, so the 2024 storm was not unprecedented. (2) The 2024 storm was classified as a “100-year storm”, which means that roughly 20 such storms would have occurred randomly since the time of Jesus. (3) It would take thousands of years of data to detect a change of intensity in 100 year storms.

Hence, there is absolutely no scientific basis for blaming the North Carolina storm on climate change. Period.

IPCC AR6 data and analysis clearly shows that neither overall storm intensity or frequency in general have increased over the last 60 years. However, when reading the IPCC “Summary for Policy Makers”, the editors (Climate Ideologues) make the claim that storms are getting worse, thereby contradicting their own scientists.

This brings us to the recent flooding in Kerr County, Texas, where the mantra of “Climate Change!” was again trumpeted from the usual propaganda outlets (The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, PBS). Again, let’s look at the inconvenient truths.

— The affected region was tagged “Flash Flood Alley” by Accuweather in 2022 because of the historical frequency and intensity of storms there. The written record of extreme flooding in this region goes back around 300 years, with paleoclimatology records going back thousands of years.

— The Balcones Escarpment is the geological feature of Flash Flood Alley that elevates warm humid Gulf air to form intense thunderstorms that dump prodigious quantities of rain into the Guadeloupe River Valley – a narrow valley with thin soil that absorbs very little of the rainfall. Like the arroyos of New Mexico and Arizona, the Guadeloupe River is a flash flood waiting to happen.

— Back in 1940, researchers Hoyt and Longbein identified the Guadeloupe River Valley as the most dangerous region in the US for flash floods, and identified western North Carolina (see above) as second most dangerous.

— William Keith Guthrie, scientist at the University of Kansas, noted: “The Guadalupe (River) would often rise 15 feet above its normal stand after these heavy rains, carrying with it in its swift torrent a number of large trees, uprooted farther up the hills. Smaller brooks, ordinarily not containing flowing water, became raging torrents which could be crossed only by swimming.”

— In 1987, 11 inches of rain fell in a couple hours in Kerr County, causing a flood that killed 10 at a nearby camp. Meteorologist Cary Burgess explained “While flooding like this doesn’t happen often, large scale floods have occurred at least four times in the last 50 years.”

— IPCC, AR6 WG1 concluded: “There is limited evidence and low agreement on observed climate change influences for river floods in North America. Trends in streamflow indices are mixed and difficult to separate from river engineering influences, with large changes but little spatial coherence across the USA, making it difficult to identify trends.” Hence, IPCC researchers acknowledge that no empirical basis exists to support the claim that extreme precipitation or flooding have increased. (See also the Journal of Hydrology).

So, if flooding is not getting worse, what happened in Texas?

The recent flood was typical for Kerr County, and the National Weather Service issued storm warnings 12 hours in advance of the flood using cell phones and other media. Many people either ignored the warnings, or did not receive the warnings. Much like the victims of the California fires, this was a failure of local emergency communication and individual action, not of climate policy.

And, if the climate propaganda outlets want to complain about FEMA’s response in Kerr County (which turns out to be just fine), why were they unconcerned about FEMA’s non-response in North Carolina under President Joe Biden?

However, we certainly must ponder the devastating psychological effects of unrelenting Climate Ideology on our society. Climate catastrophism has spawned an entirely new psychiatric diagnosis: Climate Anxiety Disorder. Perhaps this should be listed next to Trump Derangement Syndrome in the psychiatric manual.

Last year, China funded American climate activists to the tune of $500 million. Their intent was to push the climate catastrophe narrative to instill Climate Anxiety and push the installation of Wind and Solar equipment made in China, under the false belief that such “mitigation” would save the planet.

Meanwhile, China’s use of coal has exploded, and their cheap — and reliable — electricity is putting U.S. manufacturing out of business, while not adding wind and solar in China.

It seems obvious: Climate Ideologues in the U.S. are acting on behalf of the undemocratic and totalitarian Chinese Communist Party to destroy the U.S. economy.

Do you smell the rat?

Michael Dee is a Silver Creek resident while Scott Axelson resides in Jamestown.