Monday, November 7, 2016

It's a climate conspiracy on a unbelievable scale, says Malcolm Roberts and his fan Graham Lloyd at The Australian

Australian Senator Malcolm Roberts grandstanded at Parliament House this morning to show how he is wasting taxpayers' funds since he was appointed to the Senate. He is now being paid by Australians to continue his conspiracy theorising. He presented a 42-page document which can be paraphrased as "climate science is a hoax".

Malcolm has changed from being an anti-government "sovereign citizen" to being a member of the Australian Senate, after getting a whole 77 primary votes! (He only snuck in by being on Pauline Hanson's One Nation ticket.)

Here is a copy from his tweet about the grand announcement - referring to "Major Pauline Hanson" (who is not a "major" or major):

At his announcement, Malcolm Roberts was flanked by the uber-conspiracy theorist Tim Ball and professional climate disinformer Tony Heller. "Major" Pauline Hanson was nowhere to be seen.

Neither Malcolm Roberts or Tim Ball "believe in" the greenhouse effect. Tony Heller is more about pushing disinformation than his "beliefs".




Graham Lloyd at The Australian pushes Malcolm's conspiracy nuttery


Graham Lloyd, the anti-environment editor at The Australian, did himself proud. He wrote up Malcolm's conspiracy theory (minus any mention of Maurice Strong or Jewish bankers). What he didn't do was insert any comment from himself or any climate scientist or anyone else pointing out that Malcolm Roberts is a nutcase at best. It's as if he buys into Malcolm's delusion and wants his readers to as well.

If you can't see the article in the Australian, copy some of the following words from it into Google:
Senator Roberts has rejected CSIRO assurances on climate ­science and called for a due dilig­ence audit of the organisation’s research and methods.

Flanked by international ­climate sceptics, Senator Roberts will today release a 42-page ­rebuttal of the CSIRO’s climate ­science claims.

Except it wasn't a rebuttal. It was nothing more than "I don't and won't believe it". Malcolm doesn't "believe" that global temperatures have been rising, that humans are adding CO2 to the atmosphere, or that there is such a thing as the greenhouse effect. He doesn't accept the mountains of evidence but doesn't say why not. He doesn't explain what he thinks keeps the planet warm enough to sustain life.

Denier conspiracy memes galore


After about 30 pages of climate science denial, Malcolm launched into several conspiracy theories including some he adapted from Tim Ball. For example, he claims that Maurice Strong took over the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO:
Strong was remarkably successful in gaining control of weather agencies such as BOM, NOAA (USA), UK Met Office, Environment Canada in major western nations and science agencies, hijacking once honest agencies, such as the British climate research facilities established by Henry Lamb, and through politicians such as Al Gore getting control over government agencies such as NASA-GISS and through government funding of agencies such as CSIRO. 
This is classic Tim Ball, mixing Maurice Strong and "Henry" Lamb. Malcolm threw in an "algore is fat" for good measure.

Malcolm's "theory" is that climate scientists have been committing fraud for decades so they can get money to do fraudulent research - and no-one but him and a handful of conspiracy nutters have twigged. No scientist has discovered the hoax yet. It's only those who dwell in the dark recesses of the deniosphere who are a wake up.

There's more:
  • Former Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd (Labor Party) and John Howard (Liberal Party) accepted science because they wanted power. 
  • "Major international banks" accept science for the "trillions of dollars" they are going to collect.
  • Universities are in it for grants.
  • Parliamentary back-benchers accept science to "support the party line".


There's still more. Every member country of the UN supports it because their representatives are incapable of anything else. He doesn't explain why member countries of the UN disagree over many other things. Malcolm wrote:
The UN itself as a vehicle for people such as Maurice Strong who pushed a personal agenda as a way of taking political power and control over others. This is particularly easy in massive bureaucracies such as the UN where accountability is non-existent and the representatives from many countries follow like a herd; 
In other words, Malcolm Roberts accepts that, except for a few tin-foil hat conspiracy theorists like Malcolm Roberts, Tim Ball and Tony Heller, the entire world accepts that climate change is real and we're causing it.


Mind control of the herd


Malcolm doesn't go so far as to use the conspiracy word "sheeple" this time around, but he does get close with his "herd". He wrote:
Examples of herds include parliament, universities and agencies depending on external funding.

Deluded Malcolm thinks conspiracy theorists are in the majority, and that climate science is "mind control". He wrote:
Misrepresentation of science and climate is a form of control over people’s minds. It is yet another example of the everpresent tussle between control and freedom that has been playing out as part of the Human Condition for millenia. It is another example of the tyranny of the minority who control the political and media agenda. 

Special mention of other tin-foil hatters


Malcolm Roberts called out some people who he regards as fellow climate science deniers, disinformers and tin-foil hat wearers. He includes Andrew Bolt, who is a hard core denier but who has distanced himself from Malcolm Robert's anti-semitic conspiracy theories.
  • Politicians: Craig Kelly, George Christensen, Cory Bernardi, and Pauline Hanson.
  • Scientists and ex-scientists: Peter Ridd, Stewart Franks and Cliff Ollier
  • Journalists (and bloggers): Andrew Bolt, Paul Murray, Alan Jones, Chris Kenny, Grant Goldman, Graham Lloyd.


References and further reading


Malcolm Roberts' climate change press conference starts bad, ends even worse - article by Amy Remeikis at The Age

Climate Change Conspiracy Theorist's Report "A Pile Of Horse Shit" Writes Environment Editor - article by Graham Readfearn at DeSmogBlog

One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts is in denial about the facts of climate change - article by John Cook at The Conversation

One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts wrote bizarre 'sovereign citizen' letter to Julia Gillard - article by Michael Koziel at the Sydney Morning Herald



From the HotWhopper archives




38 comments:

  1. OK Sou you are superwoman. You nailed it. Bert

    ReplyDelete
  2. Up to now the Australian press seems to do their job. I can especially recommend the article of The Age, but do not drink anything while reading.

    http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/malcolm-roberts-climate-change-press-conference-starts-bad-ends-even-worse-20161106-gsjg86.html

    http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/11/07/climate-denier-senator-wants-csiro-inquiry

    https://www.crikey.com.au/2016/11/07/i-admire-and-respect-the-jews-one-nation-senator-conference-starts-out-a-farce-stays-a-farce/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Replies
    1. Ha ha - Malcolm isn't bothered by details like names :)

      Delete
  4. It will be hard to devote any attention to this lightweight nonentity until the larger and far more dangerous one is safely disposed of at the polls two days from now.

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    1. After the Brexit result, I am not so sure. This "protest vote" thing is powerful.

      Delete
    2. I know how you feel. And even if Trump loses the fact that so many people are prepared to vote for him does not give me much hope for the future.

      Delete
    3. Except that it is now "president-elect Trump"...

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    4. I called it. Not a particularly clever call mind, the polls said the result would be close. I still think it was a protest vote of sorts.

      Oh well, I hope the US enjoys it's protest.

      Delete
  5. I love that we have video footage of Roberts being stepped through the data and given the kids version of what is happening. But what would those experts know!!

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    1. It would be like teaching quantum mechanics to my loyal trusty dog. He would try hard but at the end he can only say woof! Bert

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    2. Let's be fair, Bert, at least your dog would try to understand you. Malcolm isn't even trying.

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    3. Your dog could tell you the sex, size and age of every dog passing down the street in the last 24 hours. Roberts - we'd have to hope he could manage to avoid stepping in dog mess.

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  6. Just when I thought we might be gaining ground (there seems to be less denier comments on some blogs compared to a few years ago... but that may be due to better moderation), here comes this idiot stoking the fires of stupidity with his conspiracies. If the Trumpster wins, that'll probably be the end of any global effort to fight global warming but even if he doesn't, with ideologically motivated imbeciles like Roberts in our parliament (and god help us if the mad Abbott makes a comeback) it's going to be a long, hard slog fighting the deniers zombies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jp, Trump has now won, and concerted global climate change action is likely irretrievably destroyed.

      In species' evolution terms, it's probably now time to get our affairs in order...

      #Trumpageddon #AmericaWhatHaveYouDone #FUBAR

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    2. I am more optimistic when it comes to climate change. (Federal) America is not that important and the energy transition is probably unstoppable. I mainly worry for freedom, human rights and democracy in America.

      A view from Germany on Trump's America

      Delete
  7. Malcolm Roberts is unhinged and unable to think critically. It's classic denial. It won't matter how much evidence he gets he won't be able to accept it because he's built his whole world view around it. It's like something out of an Oliver Sacks book. It also means as he gets closer and closer to the truth he will get more and more strident in his claims of conspiracy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After it won the coal shills its second term in AUS it just took over the empire.

      You all underestimated this.
      I've had posts removed, or bans, for not underestimating it, thanks for that too.

      Delete
    2. Not so, CRR. You've had your hate posts removed, where you wished violent harm on people, and their death. Watch it.

      Delete
  8. I think it's meant to be read as "Major (Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Announcement" - that is, the name of the party is Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party and there's going to be a major announcement related to that party.

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    Replies
    1. Well, I was thinking he'd got his band of dismally earnest eternally-proselytizing reactionary cranks understandably confused with the Salvos - or with Dad's Army! Now there's one for Huw Parkinson...

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  9. I notice his report has the word "proof" on it

    in conspiracy land bullshit bingo - that is a definite "hit"

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  10. Roberts is actually mentally ill, and for that reason it's truly irresponsible of Lloyd to uncritically reproduce his assertions...Lloyd did not even bother to rebut the 'no warming' claim by pointing to observed changes to the cryosphere.

    I've just started to look at Robert's 'technical' stuff put together by Bobroff] in reply to CSIRO....it's a Gish Gallop of the usual nonsense...and , also as usual, it seems some data from the corrupt grant seeking global science conspiracy is acceptable to Roberts...as long as he can misconstrue it. E.G. graph splicing GISP, Law Dome and Hadcrut 4 data, despite offsetting, the baselining is inconsistent, and the coverageincoherence is ignored.
    File in the circular cabinet.


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    Replies
    1. Yeah, Roberts does a great job of mixing apples and oranges to produce his excrement. He also shows a graph of Christy's UAH data plotted along with that said to be from RSS, but the referenced RSS source is their stratospheric data set, which has a negative trend. I expect that he actually plotted the RSS TMT data, though one can't say for sure. Not to forget that the UAH TLT is a new product which has not formally been presented in a peer reviewed report.

      From my investigations, the UAH V6b5 data includes a bias due to the NOAA 9 problem, as documented by Po-Chedley in his reports. The resulting warm bias during the early years of the UAH data can explain the fact that the UAH trend is less than that found in the RSS TLT. My paper on the subject has passed the second round of peer review, so I expect it will be published soon...

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    2. My paper on the subject has passed the second round of peer review, so I expect it will be published soon...

      Glad to hear it, and look forward to seeing the finished paper. Almost as much as I look forward to seeing S&C publish their reviewed methodology for UAH V6 LT product.

      Delete
    3. E.S - sounds great. Do you have a pre-print or draft hanging around the web anywhere?

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    4. Thanks for the interest. I don't have a pre-print and there's still the chance it will need a change. As for S & C's paper on the UAH V6, while I don't know to which journal they submitted, they could have submitted to the same one as I did. It would be especially fun if both papers appeared in the same issue...

      Delete
    5. E. Swanson - when it's published, please let me know and if possible send me a copy so I can write about it. (I have some subs - so it depends on where it's published.)

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    6. Sou, In today's e-mail, I'm told that my paper has been accepted by JTECH. There are some details still to be worked thru, but it won't be long. If you have a JTECH subscription, it will be available as early release, once the layout if finalized...

      Delete
  11. I may well be missing something here, but at Tony Heller (AKA Steven Goddard), exposed, exposed Tony Heller says:
    “Apparently unaware I’m a completely discredited climate denying nut-so much so that I even got laughed off of Anthony Watts’ nonsense climate change blog-Australian Senator Malcolm Roberts has seen fit to enlist me as an expert to help bolster his position that NASA and other agencies are fudging climate records. Here I am pictured with this sucker at a press conference today along with another fellow denier loon, Tim Ball.”

    As I said, I may well be missing something – it’s difficult to tell the difference between a denier nutter and a Poe.

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    Replies
    1. Tony Heller Exposed is not the real Tony Heller. The real Heller's blog is the appropriately named "The Deplorable Climate Science Blog".

      Delete
  12. Some minor comments.
    Maurice Strong? Nice to see a fellow Canadian getting good press coverage. I think Roberts missed the fact that the "3 Wise Men" controlled the UN for 20 years.

    Empirical?? What the devil is empirical data? Clearly a key concept to Malcolm but ....? Well I guess he likes the word.

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    Replies
    1. Roberts gets down to his roots, in this heart-warming testimony to the coal industry which culminates in full-on looniness about the 'anti-human' CSIRO
      http://spectator.com.au/2016/11/csiro-political-science/

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  13. The "Dunning-Kruger effect" describes Roberts perfectly:

    The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which low-ability individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability as much higher than it really is. Dunning and Kruger attributed this bias to a metacognitive inability of those of low ability to recognize their ineptitude and evaluate their ability accurately.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect

    ReplyDelete
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    1. ...and he is a victim of his own motivated reasoning, which as a proud child of coalminers and a former mine worker himself, he quite artlessly waves like a banner: he cannot bring himself to understand that global-scale intensive use of fossil fuels has a downside.
      In order to defend coal's honor, he falls for every logical fallacy and rhetorical deceit in the book. Cherry-picking, strawmen,irrelevance, incoherence,sentimentality, paranoia, false equivalence, projection, argument from authority, false memories and dishonesty...all lead him into a self-oblivious mess...42 pages of crap.

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    2. I see his fellow One-Notion parliamentarian as another DKer. He apparently intends to represent himself when the High Court sits as the Court of Disputed Returns to examine his eligibility to stand at the last election. Although his possible replacements are either his brother-in-law or his wife, who were second and third on the Senate ticket, so perhaps he isn't even trying.

      The ON pool is big in Western Australia - perhaps they held State conferences in their lounge?

      Delete
  14. Another country has elected climate revisionism.
    Gradually blogs like this will become endangered. Climate revisionism is criminal, see, and it will do crime, see.

    ReplyDelete

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