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The authorities in a city in eastern China are on high alert after angry residents clashed with police over the government's flood relief efforts. Armed police are out in force in Yuyao in Zhejiang province, after thousands of people protested in front of the government office there, throwing stones and overturning vehicles. Residents say little was done to help after Typhoon Fitow struck last week. Protests against officials are common, but rarely reported by state media. Residents in Yuyao have been in confrontation with the authorities since last week after complaining about what they say was a slow government response...

Typhoon Wipha brought strong winds and heavy rain to the Tokyo metropolitan area early Wednesday, shutting down large portions of the region’s transportation network. On Izu Oshima Island in the Pacific about 120 km south of Tokyo, at least 13 bodies were found and around 20 people were missing after several houses collapsed amid record rainfall of 122.5 mm per hour, according to local authorities and police. In Machida, Tokyo, a woman believed to be in her 40s died after being swept away by a swollen river, police said. Several bullet-train runs on the Tohoku, Yamagata, Joetsu, Nagano and Tokaido...

Situational awareness was key to taking the right course of action. During the rains, after the 2nd bridge washed out, those of us on one of the "islands" that now define Jamestown got together at the 1-room schoolhouse. Most folks didn't understand what was happening, and thought that we'd be back up and running in a week or two, and that between the individual preppers and the government, we'd be up and running in a couple weeks. I had a talk with a friend that I regard as bright, and he simply said "I was in Katrina, and I can...

CHICAGO, October 7, 2013 — Climate scientists are obsessed with carbon dioxide. The newly released Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims that “radiative forcing” from human-emitted CO2 is the leading driver of climate change. Carbon dioxide is blamed for everything from causing more droughts, floods, and hurricanes, to endangering polar bears and acidifying the oceans. But Earth’s climate is dominated by water, not carbon dioxide. Earth’s water cycle encompasses the salt water of the oceans, the fresh water of rivers and lakes, and frozen icecaps and glaciers. It includes water flows within and between...

As Australia moves to scrap its pioneering carbon-pricing scheme, China is expected to have seven pilot pricing systems in place no later than 2015, followed by a national scheme, according to a new survey from the Australian National University. The survey, a joint initiative between the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy in the university's Crawford School of Public Policy and Beijing-based NGO China Carbon Forum, collected the opinions of 86 China-based carbon pricing experts. The survey found strong confidence that China will introduce carbon-pricing mechanisms in coming years, that the price of emitting carbon will rise over time and...

China has put forth new rules to tackle overcapacity in its solar power industry. A document released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) specifies the thresholds needed to enter the (PV) industry and is sure to keep plenty of capital at bay. Under the new rules, access to the industry will be strictly controlled. For instance, investors who wish to enter the industry must now invest a minimum 20 percent of the value of the desired project. There are also minimum requirements for investment in research and development. Only a few domestic PV enterprises can meet the...

Please call CBS 1-212-975-4321and find out if they stand behind their comment. I did. Joe, who answered my call at CBS said that they got their information from the IPPC report which said the if the earth had no water the temperatures here would be the boiling point of water. The fact that oceans cover 71% of the earth and contain 97% of the earths' water had no affect on CBS. I'm not kidding. This is CBS.

Typhoon Usagi came closest to Taiwan yesterday afternoon and is moving away from the nation in the direction of Hong Kong, but heavy rainfall is still expected to continue throughout today, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. As of 7:15pm, Typhoon Usagi had weakened slightly, with its center 140km southwest of Oluanpi (�鑾鼻). The wind speed near its center was 48 meters per second in a radius of 280km and the typhoon was moving west-northwest at 19kph. The bureau said that the land alert for Usagi may possibly be lifted as soon as this morning. The center of the typhoon...

Photo taken on Sept. 20, 2013 shows the moon halo over the sky in Changchun City, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province. The halos are caused by both refraction (splitting of light) and reflection (glints of light) from ice crystals in the air. [Photo: Xinhua/Xu Chang]

It’s 08:30 in southeast China. And people from Hong Kong to Shenzhen are bracing for what will likely go down as the strongest storm of 2013. Typhoon Usagi, called a “monster super storm” by the Washington Post, and the “hell storm” by the Drudge Report is already bringing rain to Taiwan and an eerie calm before the storm in the Guangdong province in China. Usagi is expected to hit landfall in the next 9 hours, according to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA). Usagi was centered about 175 kilometers (108 miles) southeast of southern Taiwan with a maximum wind force up...

Why are U.S. hurricanes given names? Names are actually given to tropical storms but if they reach a sustained wind speed of 74 miles per hour, then they are deemed hurricanes. These types of destructive storms are given monikers because naming them makes it much easier for meteorologists, researchers, emergency response workers, ship captains, and citizens to communicate about specific hurricanes in a clear manner. So after decades of hurricane and storm names, did a Black Congresswoman demand that African-American names be included? ... In July 2003, Sheila Jackson Lee (pictured), a Democratic member of Congress who represents the 18th...

Such a “Nasty Euro Winter” Would Be Spectacular Sixth In A Row! Meteorologist Joe Bastardi in his Saturday Summary at the 7-minute mark looks at the latest NCEP NCAR global winter forecast for 2013/14. The charts point to another “brutal winter for Europe.” The forecast sees blocking and a negative NAO. Joe also tweeted that “SST analog package combined with low solar, and climate cycle (similar to early 50s) argue for nasty Euro Winter.” Joe is not alone in pointing out that weather services are looking at a brutal European winter. German meteorologist Dominik Jung tweets that a bitter cold...

National plan considered to enhance coordination Man can conquer nature, so goes an ancient Chinese saying that highlights human power. In a move appearing to support that saying, China plans to boost its weather intervention through a national plan. The plan, running from 2013 to 2020, will divide the country into six regions and set up an interprovincial mechanism for weather control, Yao Zhanyu, a senior researcher of the Weather Modification Center under the China Meteorological Administration, told China Daily. Each region will build infrastructure and a command center for weather intervention, according to Yao. Programs in northeastern, central and...

TOKYO - Tornados hit cities in eastern Japan on Monday afternoon, injuring dozens of people and damaging buildings, local police said. In Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture, residents reported to the police that power poles collapsed and roofs were blown off residential buildings. Police said they have confirmed six buildings were completely destroyed and around 80 were badly damaged in the city. Among the injured, a man suffered a skull fracture, according to the Shock Trauma Center at Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital. Flying debris smashed around 50 windows at Sakuraiminami Elementary School in the city, injuring two third-grade boys, the school...

The departing US Homeland Security Secretary used her farewell speech to warn the nation’s leaders of an impending “serious” cyber-attack as well as a natural disaster, the impact of which will dwarf Hurricane Sandy and other disasters in recent memory. Janet Napolitano, after four years at the helm of the Department of Homeland Security, delivered her final speech Tuesday morning before she formally exits her position next week. “Many things still need tending, and my successor will most certainly have a full plate on his or her hands,” she said, adding that she faced “many challenges” over the past four...

UPDATE: 8/23/13 1:00PM PDT Its seems there’s blunders to go around. The Washington Post now says they “misquoted” Gore. Given his penchant for saying and doing dumb things in the past related to his views on climate, color me “skeptical”, especially when he makes ugly comparisons about people like he did below. It may be more of a case of some deal was worked out behind the scenes to salvage Gore’s waning credibility. I suppose we’ll never know, but I have asked WaPo to put the relevant audio of the tape recorded session online so we can verify that Gore...

Snow hits Xinjiang in Aug. as heatwave scorches many parts of China

HONG KONG: Hong Kong battened down Wednesday as Typhoon Utor forced the closure of the city's financial market and schools and disrupted hundreds of flights after leaving six dead in the Philippines. Gusts of more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour were recorded, with rain lashing down, as the Hong Kong Observatory issued a "Number 8" storm warning -- the third highest level. The Airport Authority said it expected 100 flights to be cancelled, with another 174 delayed. Ferry services to outlying islands and mainland China were halted, stranding passengers at various terminals. In one part of town the...

MANILA, Philippines -- A powerful typhoon battered the northern Philippines on Monday, toppling power lines and dumping heavy rain across cities and food-growing plains. The storm left at least two people dead and 44 missing. (MORE: Typhoon Utor Forecast) Typhoon Utor, described as the strongest globally this year, slammed ashore in mountainous eastern Aurora province with sustained winds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 210 kph (130 mph). Footage from ABS-CBN TV network showed a woman swept away by a raging river in neighboring Isabela province. The woman waved her hands for help as...

Japan’s temperature hit 40-degrees over the weekend, reaching a record high in 6 years and claiming the lives of four people. Back in August 2007, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported two cities reaching an all-time high of 40.9 degrees. Last month also caused more than 700 people hospitalized and one dead because of heatstroke. On Saturday, two senior citizens from western Japan passed away due to the intense heat. A 66-year old man and an 84-year old woman were both reported to have collapsed in the fields. The weather bureau warned 39 prefectures early Sunday of another past-35 degree temperature....

SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea on Sunday warned of a possible power-shortage crisis that may lead to a rolling power outage as seen in Sept. 2011 amid a scorching heat wave across the country. Nationwide heat wave was expected to cause the most dangerous crisis in supply and demand of electricity here for three days through Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE). Last Friday, power demand reached a record high of 79.35 million kilowatts (kWs), surpassing the country's power-generation capacity of 77.15 million kWs. Power reserves temporarily dropped to 3.29 million kWs, below...

REPORTER: "Would anything stop you (from running)?" WEINER: "(laughs at question) I just have a feelling I  -like- stepped into a Monty Python bit!" "Anything else I can do for ITV- can I do the weather, or something?" REPORTER: If you can do the weather  -you can do the weather here in New York. WEINER: "...No, no, I'll do yours: Where's this from, England?  OK, it's going to be raining, cloudy, and grey, so do what you can, guys... keep a -what is it?- keep a stiff upper lip!" _______________________________________________________ Video at Reaganite Republican

Another uncertainty for climate models – different results on different computers using the same code Posted on July 27, 2013     |     by Anthony Watts New peer reviewed paper finds the same global forecast model produces different results when run on different computers Did you ever wonder how spaghetti like this is produced and why there is broad disagreement in the output that increases with time? Increasing mathematical uncertainty from initial starting conditions is the main reason. But, some of it might be due to the fact that while some of the models share common code,...

What if your home could protect itself from dangerous weather  by retreating underground automatically long before it hits? If you think about it, a house -or entire neighborhood/town- that could withstand higher winds than boxy, frail wood structures -and actually hide underground if necessary- could have one heck of a lot of applications: not just in tornado alley, but avoiding fires in California, tsunamis in Japan, or of course hurricane season in the Carolinas. Why build an expensive underground shelter only to watch your house and belongings be scraped from the face of the Earth, washed-away, or turned to...

After I retired from UAL as a Standards Captain on the -400, I got a job as a simulator instructor working for Alteon (a Boeing subsidiary) at Asiana. When I first got there, I was shocked and surprised by the lack of basic piloting skills shown by most of the pilots. It is not a normal situation with normal progression from new hire, right seat, left seat taking a decade or two. One big difference is that ex-Military pilots are given super-seniority and progress to the left seat much faster. Compared to the US, they also upgrade fairly rapidly because...

Increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) have helped boost green foliage across the world’s arid regions over the past 30 years through a process called CO2 fertilisation, according to CSIRO research. In findings based on satellite observations, CSIRO, in collaboration with the Australian National University (ANU), found that this CO2 fertilisation correlated with an 11 per cent increase in foliage cover from 1982-2010 across parts of the arid areas studied in Australia, North America, the Middle East and Africa, according to CSIRO research scientist, Dr Randall Donohue. “In Australia, our native vegetation is superbly adapted to surviving in arid environments...

The deluded fools who actually believe in man–made global warming got some bad news recently; Obama says he’s going to fix it. The man who promised us shovel-ready jobs, and joked when it didn't work, is going to change the earth's climate. This is the same man who ... o Promised that his first act as President was to close Guantanamo o Focused like a laser beam on creating jobs, causing millions to flee the labor market o Promised to fix the economy and presided over the worst recovery in the last hundred years o Employed “smart diplomacy” to transform...

What do you think Fred Phelps, the fringe preacher with the Westboro Baptist Church, would say about Alberta's floods? He'd say what he always says - that they are God's punishment for Canada because of our tolerance for gays. Or, as his protest placards say, "God Hates Fags." He's the idiot who protests at funerals of U.S. soldiers. See, he even blames wars on gays. Canada has our own versions of Fred Phelps. They say natural weather events, like seasonal floods, are "proof" that God Hates Oilsands. (They tend to say Mother Earth or Gaia.) As TV images of Albertans...

Let’s say that a progressive community decides to implement a law that requires its residents to have a body mass index within the “normal range”. Undeniably such a measure would be good for the citizens of this community. It would reduce obesity, improve overall health, decrease health care costs and if practiced across the country would reduce food consumption causing food demand to lessen, food costs to fall, and the demand for agricultural land to lessen. To make this law more palatable to the population it will be called the Pink Code: like being “in the pink” (a healthy condition)...

There are people in certain areas of the United States who know how we feel, living in Tornado Alley. The area earned has earned its name again, as multiple tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma. Five more people are dead after the twisters struck the Oklahoma City area Friday afternoon and night. I have sent an email to Charles Phipps, author of OK Politechs and coauthor here at Political Realities, as he lives in the Oklahoma City area. I'll update this post when I make sure he is okay. The power of these storms is amazing and nothing can seem to...

No politics today. The state of Oklahoma has suffered another blow, courtesy of mother nature and the privilege of living in the middle of Tornado Alley. I watched yesterday as parts of Moore was torn apart. I wondered about my aunt and uncle, living just off I-35. They are okay, but their house did sustain damage. They are elderly and were unable to heed the warnings to flee from the path of the storm. They had no underground shelter, so they rode it out in the bathtub. I can also report that Charles Phipps, the news contributor to Political Realities...

Note that either this new 'Sustainability' merit badge -to be released in July 2013- OR 'Environmental Science' is now required for attainment of the top Eagle Scout rank (makes me feel better about just getting to 'Life') So as with American schools, KGB-initiated leftist infiltration of our country is nearly complete- as is demoralization of the populace.  Continuing to force this junk science down our -and our childrens'- throats does nothing but distract the entire society from reality while NWO statists take the reigns... might as well offer an 'Alchemy' MB while they're at it: MeritBadge.org   h/t Doug Powers-

A group of 17 Northern Michigan residents have filed a lawsuit claiming a new Consumers Energy wind farm has been making people sick. According to the lawsuit, the $250 million Lake Winds Energy Park wind farm, south of Ludington in Mason County, was built too close to homes. The lawsuit says residents are suffering from dizziness, sleeplessness, headaches and other physical symptoms because of the noise. The 56 turbines (some as far away as a half mile) also are causing vibrations and flickering lights in houses, the lawsuit says. Economic losses are also claimed in the suit. The Shineldecker house...

THE high priests of global warming are in a panic these days as their prophecies of doom have proved to be as credible as a the Mayan calendar. "Research by Ed Hawkins of University of Reading shows surface temperatures since 2005 are already at the low end of the range projections derived from 20 climate models and if they remain flat, they will fall outside the models' range within a few years," the newspaper Australian reported over the weekend. As always, global warmists blame carbon dioxide. "Another paper published by leading climate scientist James Hansen, the head of NASA's Goddard...

Associate Director of College Communications, Unity College claims in a press release this month: “Every college or university that claims to be holding a ‘green’ commencement needs to have divested from investments in fossil fuels, or admit that they cannot truly make that claim.” “As the first college in the United States to adopt sustainability science as its central focus, Unity College ascended to the leading-edge of higher education, training the next generation of environmental leaders to pursue trans-disciplinary solutions to the earth’s most pressing problems including global climate change.” “With a unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees in...

As severe cold grips the eastern U.S. on March 21, Punxsutawney Phil’s forecast for an early spring is best described as an epic failure. The prosecuting attorney of Butler County, Ohio, Michael Gmoser, wants the groundhog to pay for his flawed prediction, with his life.

When you buy a car, there are various ratings outfits in the business of calculating the true cost of owning that particular vehicle, inc. insurance, depreciation, maintenance, cost of repairs, etc. Such a comprehensive model is surely more realistic than just looking at the monthly payment or sticker price, and the customer knows if they're actually making a cost-effective, bottom-line decision. But even if you buy-into the now imploding globaloney scam, wouldn't it make sense to apply similar logic to calculate the entire environmental impact of electric vs. internal combustion cars over the full service life... esp since the actual...

On Tuesday, four Democrats in Congress unveiled a brand-new proposal for a carbon tax. The set-up is simple: The U.S. government would slap a fee on fossil-fuel emissions and refund the revenue back to the public. But there’s a twist: The precise details of the carbon tax have yet to be thrashed out. The four lawmakers are soliciting public comments for how big the tax should be and how best to rebate the money. The proposal is being put forward by Reps. Henry Waxman and Earl Blumenauer, as well as Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Brian Schatz. Here are the key...

A recent article by Brad Plumer at the Washington Post outlines the tension between climate change goals and the need to provide “energy impoverished” nations with access to electricity. “If we want to limit the amount of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere and hit that 2°C goal, we’ll have to replace about 80 percent of our current fossil-fuel use with carbon-free energy and then use only carbon-free energy to meet our future needs,” he writes. “That’s hard enough.” “But if we want everyone in the world to have as much energy as the average Bulgarian enjoys, then we’ll need twice as...

At the height of Superstorm Sandy, city residents watching seawater pour into the subway system couldn’t help but wonder: What will become of all the rats? Four months later, that’s still a mystery. And experts aren’t so sure about stories of hordes of displaced rodents fleeing the flood zone and taking up residence in buildings that were previously rat-free. TV stations and newspapers have been rife with reports about rats infesting parked cars and fleeing the East River waterfront for the brownstones of Brooklyn Heights and exterminators enjoying a boom in business. For some city officials, the last straw came...

A recent article in the Washington Post exposes once again what climate change skeptics already know: the green movement is designed to lower living standards, not just make living more carbon efficient. “One of President Obama’s goals in his State of the Union address was to make American homes twice as energy-efficient by 2030,” writes Brad Plumer for the Washington Post today. “But would that actually curtail overall energy use and reduce U.S. carbon emissions? That’s a trickier question.” “A second way to look at this is that as Americans get richer, we’re inevitably going to want bigger homes and...

As mentioned in previous blog entries, several news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, mentioned that the President, in his State of the Union address, would be addressing climate change. Indeed, in his speech the President called upon Congress to act and create a McCain-Liebermanesque solution while promoting his own executive actions. “I urge this Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago,” said President Barack Obama. “I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions...

The language used in President Barack Obama’s upcoming State of the Union speech may be vague regarding specific climate change regulations, but two media outlets have now confirmed that new coal regulations by the Administration are likely. “In trying to slow climate change, Obama is considering acting through the Environmental Protection Agency to issue new rules governing carbon emissions by existing power plants, according to three people familiar with White House discussions,” states the Washington Post today (emphasis added). According to the Wall Street Journal’s Peter Nicholas and Keith Johnson, “In the run-up to the speech, Mr. Obama has been...

President Barack Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address is supposed to be about jobs and the economy. However, it will also likely carry a “green” message, if Politico’s Andrew Restuccia is correct: “‘You’re going to like what you hear,’ White House aides have told green groups, according to an official at one environmental organization who expects the president to publicly commit to moving forward with EPA climate regulations,” writes Restuccia, who asks in his article, “which Obama will show up on Tuesday night?” The Administration feels that a 2007 Supreme Court decision giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority...

Remember Enron, the corrupt firm whose failure should have disproved the myth "too big to fail", but didn't? At the time it was the seventh largest corporation. It's bankruptcy was the largest in history until Lehman Brothers failed. Incidentally, Lehman Brothers was also involved in carbon trading. Enron owed part of its early success to emissions trading. Basically emissions trading was established as a way for some companies to profit from pollution while allowing some companies to continue to produce the chemicals that can cause acid rain. Lawrence Solomon, executive director of Energy Probe and Urban Renaissance Institute, is reporting...

In what may be the first full digital storm panic, federal, state and business officials worried about the snow headed for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast have taken to Twitter warn that a potential disaster is coming.

Climatologists pay too little attention to the role water plays in earth's energy system, including the way water vapor affects air temperature. Water's potential to affect air temperature is well established in science. As I have noted in previous posts the ability of CO2 to affect temperature is highly questionable. Those who spend much time in greenhouses know that they are often very humid places because water evaporates from plants and from surfaces that get wet when the plants are watered. Meteorologists typically refer to the water vapor content of the air as relative humidity which is how close the...

Measurement 'literally beyond index' Despite glowing words of praise from admirers in the neo-commie Obama Administration, by any measure -social security, health care, unemployment benefits, whatever- the booming China of today hasn't got much to do with socialism. Indeed, government handouts are far more prevalent in the US, and modern Chinese 'communist' leadership -who run a tight ship and enjoy a budget surplus- have come right out and said that American entitlement culture (with Obama as it's primary cheerleader) is precisely what's destroying us. So tell me who's the capitalists now: the Chinese may live under an oppressive dictatorship, but they learned not to restrain...

Stung by being called an “idiot” by Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana) for his claim that victims of 2012′s Hurricane Sandy suffered more than victims of 2005′s Hurricane Katrina, Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev) attempted to explain his way out the scathing characterization. “My colleague’s focus on quantitative data overlooks qualitative differences between the two events,” Reid argued. “First, New Jersey and New York are states where many important people live. Many of the homes that were destroyed were million dollar properties. The same could be said for the businesses.” “Most of the properties destroyed by Katrina were more like broken down...