If only they’d listened to Greta: World Economic Forum mocked for comparing CLIMATE CHANGE ON VENUS with that on Earth

19 Dec, 2020 20:48

When it comes to the fight against climate change, the boffins at the World Economic Forum think we can learn from the planet Venus, which had its oceans and milder climate wrecked. All that, and nobody on Venus ever drove a car.

“We can learn a lot about climate change from Venus, our sister planet,” read an article on the website of the World Economic Forum (WEF) this week. According to the post, new scientific modeling has revealed that, for much of its history, Venus had surface temperatures similar to those of present-day Earth, complete with oceans, rain, and even snow.

That all changed when continuous volcanic eruptions spewed enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to make the planet the scorching, uninhabitable wasteland it is today.

Massive volcanic eruptions, which occur here on Earth every 20 to 30 million years, could do the same to our planet, the WEF article warned, permanently altering our planet the way fossil fuel consumption never could.

That’s not to say man-made climate change doesn’t exist here on Earth – which, unlike Venus, we’re pretty sure has been habitable (and inhabited) for some time.

But such predictions are apocalyptic, and to a legion of online commenters, undermined the WEF’s argument that humanity needs to urgently move to a zero-carbon economy to survive global warming – all part of the post-coronavirus ‘Great Reset’ envisioned by the organization and its supporters in politics.

“If only Planet Venus would have listened to the scoldy truant teen,” conservative pundit Stephen Miller tweeted, in an apparent reference to Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, whose crusade against fossil fuels dominated headlines last year.

While cataclysmic volcanic eruptions could possibly undo any carbon tax, vehicle ban, or ‘Green New Deal’ passed here on Earth, the WEF’s article did not discount the effects of man-made climate change – it simply didn’t mention it.

Should that happen, the WEF already has its eyes on the Moon, and predicts a ‘gold rush’ in the coming decades, as companies and governments set out to strip the barren space-rock of its precious thorium, uranium, and helium.

https://www.rt.com/news/510218-wef-venus-climate-change/

Toomey, Schumer reportedly reach agreement on COVID relief bill language

Dec 19, 2020 Last Update 26 mins ago

Fox News learned late Saturday that Toomey had agreed to compromise language from his initial proposal regarding federal lending programs

Senators were still on Capitol Hill late Saturday, as Congress worked to approve funding for the long-awaited coronavirus relief package by Sunday afternoon.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., hit the Senate floor Saturday with a list of grievances on the $900 billion package – the latest hold-up in Congress passing the bill.

But Fox News learned late Saturday that Toomey had agreed to compromise language from his initial proposal that would have prevented the Federal Reserve chairman from establishing federal lending programs similar to those set up in March to help credit markets function during massive U.S. economic shutdowns.

Details on the changes were not immediately available. But Toomey's apparent pullback, following discussions with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., appeared to open a path to a final agreementon the coronavirus package.

Soon after Fox News learned of the development, Schumer emerged from negotiations, saying a COVID deal was "very close" and it appeared both the House and Senate would be able to vote on legislation on Sunday.

"It looks like we'll be able to," Schumer said. "If things continue on this path and nothing gets in the way, we'll be able to vote tomorrow."

Earlier Saturday, Toomey has requested that language be added to the latest bill that would ensure termination of three federal lending programs established in March to help credit markets function during massive U.S. economic shutdowns.

"We’ve never asked the Fed to engage in fiscal policy or social policy, or to allocate credit based on political standing," Toomey said.

The CARES Act created a corporate bond credit facility, along with municipal and mainstream lending programs, that were originally intended to expire Dec. 31, but that Democrats want extended.

Toomey argued Saturday that extending the programs would be superfluous because they went underutilized after private credit markets quickly resumed normal functions. He added that the corporate credit facility was never used at all.

But Democrats have said Toomey’s language, which would prevent the credit lending programs from being restarted or duplicated "without congressional consent," would undermine the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending authority.

Toomey said his legislation was not an attempt to curtail the Biden administration, but rather a preventative measure.

"It would completely politicize the Fed, it would be the end of the independence of the Fed," Toomey said from the Senate floor Saturday.

He argued that extending the emergency spending authority would allow the Federal Reserve to become an extension of the administration, and to implement fiscal policies through lending stipulations, such as climate policy-based conditions.

"Fiscal and social policy is the rightful realm of the people who are accountable to the American people and that’s us, that’s Congress," he added.

But Schumer pushed back, calling them 11th-hour demands, and "the only significant hurdle to completing an agreement, and Republicans need to make a decision."

"What he's proposing is not about COVID or helping the American people," Schumer said from the floor Saturday. "It's about tying the hands of the next treasury secretary and the next Fed chairman in a true emergency.

"Everybody needs to make a decision about whether we're going to pass this much-needed relief or not. And about 11th hour demands and whether they are worth holding up the entire bill," he added.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told Congress, after the House and Senate approved another stopgap funding bill Friday, to expect a vote sometime after 1 p.m. Sunday – giving them another two-day extension to prevent a government shutdown.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/toomey-schumer-reportedly-reach-agreement-on-covid-relief-bill-language

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