US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2570

Leading scientists have accused a Republican-led committee of subjecting climate researchers to politically motivated “harassment” amid an increasingly fractious investigation into the activity of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

Eight key scientific bodies have written to Republican congressman Lamar Smith, chairman of the House committee on science, to warn that the committee’s inquiry into Noaa could have a “chilling effect on the willingness of government scientists to conduct research that intersects with policy-relevant scientific questions”.

The letter added: “Scientists should not be subjected to fraud investigations or harassment simply for providing scientific results that some may see as politically controversial.

“Science cannot thrive when policymakers – regardless of party affiliation – use policy disagreements as a pretext to attack scientific conclusions without public evidence.”

Concern has mounted among scientists as Smith has pursued Noaa over what he has called “prematurely rushed” climate data that he claims has been used to suit the policy agenda of President Barack Obama.

Smith’s ire has focused upon research led by Thomas Karl and colleagues at Noaa, published in the journal Science in June. The research found there has been no “pause” in global warming over the past 15 years, despite previous claims that there has been a slowdown or flatlining in rising global temperatures.

This finding has been backed by several other climate papers this year that dispute the idea of a warming hiatus. On Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organisation announced that 2011 to 2015 had been the warmest five-year period on record, with this year set to be the hottest year ever registered. This warmth had been driven by climate change, caused by the release of greenhouse gases from human activity.

But Smith has used new subpoena powers to threaten the leadership of Noaa, demanding that the federal climate and weather agency hand over all internal correspondence between scientists to find out if there has been a grand conspiracy to alter or misrepresent the data.

On November 27 2015 02:34 Danglars wrote:
The 18-year global warming pause disappeared. It originally was well reported in secondary media sources. Some called it puzzling, others said models had predicted it somewhat (allowed for it), very few said it changed anything. Nope never happened--sorry we were wrong.

In fact, the earth has been warming all this time don't you know. For the intellectually honest out there, it should bother you that global warming fact still requires the correction of errors that originated in the late 1990s/2000s and went on for over a decade. Just last year, you could say with backing from the scientific journals that anyone under 15 has not personally experienced global warming in their lifetime. Now the NOAA says different, but investigations into email exchanges are cast as political harassment. Right.

If you're still having to issue new corrections over this long a period this far along in climate science, expect incredulity.

On November 27 2015 07:18 pure.Wasted wrote:


What's not unreasonable? All of society ignoring laws they personally disagree with?

On November 27 2015 07:18 pure.Wasted wrote:


What's not unreasonable? All of society ignoring laws they personally disagree with?

On November 27 2015 10:24 heliusx wrote:

You follow all laws to the T? Just because something is a law doesn't make it right.

"In essence, if we are ever ordered by a government authority to personally violate and sin — violate God’s law and sin — if we’re ordered to stop preaching the Gospel, if we’re ordered to perform a same-sex marriage as someone presiding over it, we are called to ignore that. We cannot abide by that because government is compelling us to sin. So when those two come into conflict, God’s rules always win."

Conservative Solutions Project, an outside group promoting Republican Marco Rubio's presidential campaign, has spent nearly $8.5 million in TV ads -- making it the second-biggest advertiser in the 2016 Republican race so far. But the group's apparent support for a single presidential candidate has raised questions about the advertisements' legality.

The ads, which have aired in the early nominating states of Iowa and New Hampshire, have featured Rubio denouncing the Iran deal and delivering one of his early political speeches in 2015 -- months before Rubio's own campaign started running its first TV ad this week.

And unlike a Super PAC, Conservative Solutions Project doesn't have to disclose its donors because it exists as a tax-exempt social welfare group under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code.

But it's precisely that tax-code designation that has campaign-finance watchdogs alleging the Conservative Solution Project ads are illegal -- because they are benefitting an individual presidential candidate rather than advancing the social welfare.

"I think they're breaking the law," Paul S. Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center tells NBC News.

Earlier this month, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, another campaign-finance watchdog, asked the Justice Department to launch an investigation into Conservative Solutions Project.

"The publicly available facts indicate that Conservative Solutions Project is little more than a single-candidate 501(c)(4), with no other mission than to advance the presidential aspirations of Marco Rubio," the Campaign Legal Center said in its statement calling for an investigation.

The statement added, "501(c)(4) 'social welfare' groups by statute must [promote] the common good and general welfare of the people of the community as a whole' rather than an individual candidate for political office."