“Scientists try to discover the truth through observation and open inquiry; thugs try to impose their version of the truth through force and intimidation. As Roger Pielke learned, thuggery works.”

There’s an old trope among lawyers: if the law is on your side, pound the law; if the facts are on your side, pound the facts; if neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound the table. For thugs, the third option is to pound your opponent.

Today, thugs have taken over much of our politics, many of our universities, and much of our science. Their response to dissent is not to assemble facts and logic to support their claims but to slander, intimidate, and muzzle the opposition.

Canadian investigative journalist, Donna Laframboise, has documented one such case in her paper, The Hounding of Roger Pielke Jr.…

Two planets are talking to each other. One looks like a beautiful blue marble and the other a dirty brown ball.

“What on earth happened to you?” the beautiful planet asks the brown one.

“I had Homo sapiens,” answers the brown planet.

“Don’t worry,” says the blue planet. “They don’t last long.”

Climate alarmism has turned into a big funny. The above, a joke at COP26 recalled by Thomas Friedman, says much about the stalled-out Church of Deep Ecology. It seems that enough governments are self-interested to slow down the march on road to serfdom–and a lot of Homo sapiens really care about energy affordability and reliability.

So much for the quixotic quest to substitute dilute, intermittent energies for dense mineral energies.

Of course, the energy intelligentsia refused to deal with that stubborn thing called Energy Density, opting for a blank check for wind, solar, and batteries.…

“If social justice were the outcome COP26 attendees desired, they would do well to articulate how they meant to replicate the reliable, economical, and land-sparing fossil-fuel-based power generation and transportation now within reach of most of humanity.”

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, (COP26), concluded last week in Glasgow, Scotland. As usual, activists traveled to the event using carbon-fueled vehicles to demand that carbon-based fuels be left in the ground (including those in the developing world) in the name of social justice.

As many readers of this blog and some local climate change activists know, James Watt (1736–1819) was born and performed his first experiments to improve the steam engine not far from where the UN meeting took place. Watt ended up doing his most important work and is buried in Birmingham, where a series of events were organized two years ago to celebrate the bicentenary of his death.…

Ed. note: This fortnightly Master Resource post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, published every other week by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete MBN for this post can be found here.

Of special interest in this issue is Michael Shellenberger’s article on Europe’s return to nuclear power: “Nations Go Nuclear as Prices Spike and Renewables Fail.”

Wind Energy:
French couple wins legal fight about turbines affecting their health
Will Wind & Solar confront its 10 challenges? If not, we need Nuclear, CCS, and more
Norway in legal quandary after wind turbines ruled a threat to reindeer herder rights
Maine Voters Reject Transmission Line, Blocking Renewable Energy Expansion
“Sad” News from Denmark about Industrial Wind Turbines
Wind Manufacturers Blown Off Course
Offshore wind builder tries to calm worries

Solar Energy:
Kerry’s non-response re China using slave labor producing solar panels
Maine towns start to halt solar panel construction
Wind & Solar to Provide 30% of New England’s Consumption by 2050
Short video: Threat of Industrial Solar – Gerrit Cain

Nuclear Energy:
The nuclear industry just got a significant boon from Congress
Nuclear Is Hot, for the Moment
Rolls-Royce To Develop Mini Nuke Reactors To Decarbonize Power Grid
Nations Go Nuclear As Prices Spike & Renewables Fail
Paper on gas and nuclear’s inclusion in EU green finance rules
Nuclear May Be the Ticket to a Carbon-Free Future.…