{"id":1536787,"date":"2022-07-03T06:35:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-03T10:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1536787"},"modified":"2022-07-03T06:35:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-03T10:35:15","slug":"paul-driessen-billionaire-climate-elites-have-their-own-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/paul-driessen-billionaire-climate-elites-have-their-own-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Driessen: Billionaire Climate Elites Have Their Own Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpaul-driessen-billionaire-climate-elites-have-their-own-rules%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1536787&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<aside id=\"aside1\" class=\"left aside-wrapper aside-wrapper-950\">\n<\/aside>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Progressives have long wanted to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/ron-wydens-reborn-amt-wealth-confiscation-tax\">tax unrealized gains<\/a> from billionaires\u2019 stocks, bonds, land holdings, homes, artwork, cars, yachts and other property. As appealing as this sounds, the scheme would be vastly complicated and unworkable. In the absence of sales, who would evaluate current values \u2013 and how?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But the frustrations we \u201ccommoners\u201d have with the ultra-rich are understandable \u2013 especially when they lecture us about eating less \u201cclimate-altering\u201d beef, avoiding $5.00 gasoline by buying $60,000 electric vehicles, and bankrolling \u201cexperts\u201d who say we should live in 650-square-foot apartments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">So it\u2019s entertaining when some of those billionaires start arguing about who is more saintly (and sanctimonious) when it comes to preventing the alleged Climate Crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Elon Musk and Bill Gates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/bill-gates-shorting-tesla-wont-hurt-musk-says-sigh-2022-6\">have been quibbling<\/a> about which of them cares more about climate change. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/elon-musk-turned-down-bill-gates-philanthropy-over-tesla-short-2022-4\">Musk recently refused<\/a> a \u201cphilanthropic opportunity\u201d with Gates because the Microsoft co-founder still has a half-billion-dollar \u201cshort position against Tesla,\u201d which Musk says is \u201cthe company doing the most to solve climate change.\u201d Gates says he gives more to climate causes than anyone else, including Musk.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">However, as happens too often with elites who promote climate activist agendas, when it comes to ensuring human and planetary health, they both ignore evidence, the big picture \u2013 and their own lifestyles, including private jets and multiple mansions. They\u2019re not alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">After spending eight years attacking fossil fuels, <a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2022\/06\/17\/president-obama-installing-2500-gallons-of-fossil-fuel-backup-at-marthas-vineyard\/\">former-President Obama<\/a> installed a 2,500-gallon propane system at his 6,900-square-foot Martha\u2019s Vineyard home, which is apparently safe from rising seas that endanger other coastal properties (resulting from propane, oil and natural gas emissions).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Amazon founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-10152027\/Hypocrite-airways-Jeff-Bezoss-48m-gulf-stream-leads-parade-400-private-jets.html\">Jeff Bezos<\/a> led an entourage of 400 luminaries, dignitaries and \u201cgreen\u201d CEOs flying private jets to the 2021 COP-26 climate confab in Glasgow. Two years earlier, currency manipulator <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/05\/27\/world-economic-forum-davos-climate-change-private-jets\/\">George Soros<\/a> and 1,500 other \u201cglobal leaders\u201d hopped their private jets to the World Economic Forum in Davos, once again to focus attention on \u201csustainability\u201d and \u201cdangerous global warming.\u201d As climate czar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatedepot.com\/2021\/02\/03\/john-kerry-claims-private-jets-are-the-only-choice-for-somebody-like-me-kerry-flew-on-private-jet-to-accept-climate-award\/\">John Kerry<\/a> explained, private jets are \u201cthe only choice\u201d for someone as important as he is.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Not to be outdone, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/celebrity-news\/news\/leonardo-dicaprio-takes-private-jet-to-accept-environmental-award-w207368\/\">Leonardo DiCaprio<\/a> flew a private jet to New York City in 2016 to accept an environmental award, then flew it back to France a day later. \u201cClimate change is real!\u201d he intoned.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Of course it\u2019s real. It\u2019s been \u201creal\u201d throughout Earth\u2019s history, and there is no <a href=\"http:\/\/climatechangereconsidered.org\/\">Real World evidence<\/a> to support assertions that manmade greenhouse gases have replaced the powerful natural forces that drove past climate fluctuations, or that fossil fuel emissions are now causing dangerous warming and weather.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Computer models are not evidence, and their predictions generally conflict with actual world events. Why should we disrupt our energy, economy and living standards because models claim there\u2019s a crisis? Yet models are always the last refuge for the false prophets of climate Armageddon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In reality, far more people die in cold weather than in hot spells, and a slightly warmer planet would be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heartland.org\/_template-assets\/documents\/publications\/full-report-ccr-ii-biological-impacts.pdf\">quite beneficial<\/a> for both humanity and the plant and animal kingdoms.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">There is simply no credible evidence that today\u2019s climate fluctuations and weather events are due to fossil fuels, instead of the same natural forces that have operated throughout Earth history. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/weather\/2018\/12\/26\/will-be-first-year-with-no-violent-tornadoes-united-states\/\">Tornado records<\/a> show fewer violent twisters 1950-1985 than during the 36 years since. Not a single <a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2017\/09\/22\/irma-illusions-and-realities\/\">Category 3-5 hurricane<\/a> made U.S. landfall for a record 12 years (2005-2012).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Three especially \u201cbrutal\u201d droughts during a 200-year dry spell caused the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/ancient-mesoamerica\/article\/drought-and-the-maya-collapse\/B6B6AE2657A4635D65D520142D402DC1\">Mayan civilization<\/a> to collapse by 930 AD. Multiple droughts struck the Chaco Canyon (Four Corners) region 1130-1450, helping to end the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancient-code.com\/what-happened-to-the-anasazi-people-science-may-have-figured-it-out\/\">Anasazi civilization<\/a>. Extreme dry conditions contributed to the decline of the ancient South Arabian <a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2022\/06\/17\/droughts-in-the-sixth-century-paved-the-way-for-islam\/\">kingdom of Himyar<\/a>, causing political unrest and war, and fostering the spread of Islam. The Pleistocene glacial epochs and Little Ice Age brought \u201cfrozen droughts\u201d to Europe, Asia and North America.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Even worse than the fake science and endless fear-mongering, their proposed remedies to the Climate Crisis would be far more harmful to people and planet than the warming and weather they worry about.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Replacing fossil-fuel (and nuclear) electricity generation would mean blanketing the planet with <a data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/townhall.com\/columnists\/pauldriessen\/2022\/03\/26\/saving-america-from-planetthreatening-fossil-fuels-n2605064&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1656787941772000&#038;usg=AOvVaw0ZIVJWT-KgN5rG1D7Bo8i4\" href=\"https:\/\/townhall.com\/columnists\/pauldriessen\/2022\/03\/26\/saving-america-from-planetthreatening-fossil-fuels-n2605064\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">millions of wind turbines<\/a>, billions of solar panels, billions of backup battery modules, thousands of mines to produce the raw materials for these technologies (mostly Chinese-operated), and hundreds of landfills for worn-out, 300-foot-long wind turbine blades and other dilapidated \u201cgreen energy\u201d equipment. (Thankfully the United States has a huge, thus far unused landfill: Arizona\u2019s Grand Canyon.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The ease with which billionaire climate club members do business with China also conflicts with gnerally accepted standards of environmental and human rights ethics.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Musk is quite cozy with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-59595952\">Chinese Communist regime<\/a>. From taking billions in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-tesla-china-loan-exclusive\/exclusive-tesla-to-take-new-14-billion-loan-from-chinese-banks-for-shanghai-factory-sources-idUSKBN1YR0U0\">regime-funded loans<\/a>, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3173723\/elon-musk-featured-chinese-embassy-event-focused-space\">speaking at their embassy<\/a>, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2022\/jan\/21\/teslas-expansion-in-xinjiang-sets-a-poor-example-say-us-lawmakers\">building a factory<\/a> in Xinjiang amid the Uyghur genocide, he is surprisingly comfortable working with a state founded on ideologies of totalitarian hatred and abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Gates stretched the limits of U.S. security laws to help China <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2022\/03\/03\/red-handed-bill-gates-developed-nuclear-reactors-that-help-china-overtake-the-u-s-military\/\">build nuclear reactors<\/a> suitable for powering naval vessels, even as China continues making strategic long-term moves to control ever-larger swaths of the Pacific and surpass U.S. naval power in this critical region.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Incredibly, but understandably, these billionaires rarely (if ever) criticize Xi Jinping\u2019s regime. In fact, Musk has met with communist officials on multiple occasions and frequently says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/07\/31\/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-china-rocks-us-full-of-entitlement.html\">China \u201crocks\u201d<\/a> \u2013 even though it is by far the world\u2019s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2) and toxic pollutants.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In fact, in 2019 China\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/10\/28\/world\/china-us-climate-cop26-intl-hnk\/index.html\">nearly 2.5 times<\/a> those of the United States \u2013 and more than all the world\u2019s developed nations combined. In CO2 equivalent, China emitted 14.1 billion metric tons that year \u2013 more than a quarter of the entire world\u2019s emissions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Musk even <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-06-elon-musk-white-house-advisory.html\">stopped serving on<\/a> President Trump\u2019s advisory panels, to protest Mr. Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw from the meaningless Paris climate agreement that\u2019s actually a treaty.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">So why are Musk and Gates so quick to criticize America \u2013 but never reprimand the People\u2019s Republic? They clearly don\u2019t live by the environmental principles they preach and won\u2019t even criticize the world\u2019s worst greenhouse gas emitter, toxic chemicals polluter, and child and slave labor practitioner.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Still worse, the policies they promote would harm global public health. As Congressman John Curtis (R-Utah), founder of the Conservative Climate Caucus, recently noted, \u201ckilling American fossil fuels just causes them to be <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/03\/18\/house-republicans-congressional-progressive-caucus-climate-agenda\/\">replaced by dirtier foreign sources<\/a>, in particular Chinese and Russian.\u201d Perhaps, Mr. Curtis suggested, we should instead start \u201cattacking carbon emissions, not energy sources, through carbon capture, American innovation, natural solutions, and other paths that boost the American economy while reducing global emissions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Over the last decade, the U.S. has <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/30\/united-states-paris-accords-donald-trump-joe-biden-emissions\/\">reduced CO2 emissions<\/a> more than any other country in the world. Yet, Musk, Gates and fellow jet-setters continue to support policies like the Paris accord, which would impose major restrictions on the U.S. while allowing China to continue increasing emissions <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/why-beijing-loves-biden-and-paris-11613937344\">through 2030<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Perhaps, instead, we should just stop trying to reduce CO2 emissions, since that monumental and costly global effort is driven by demands that we prevent a \u201cmanmade climate crisis\u201d that doesn\u2019t actually exist.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">If these climate activists wish to make a difference in human and environmental health around the world, they need to change their perspective and their relationship with Communist China. They need to begin looking at Real World climate and weather evidence, and practicing what they preach.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Unfortunately, they\u2019re unwilling to do so. They\u2019d rather make noise (and more billions) than safeguard us commoners\u2019 economy and living standards, or support true productive change in America and abroad.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org), and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power &#8211; Black death and articles on energy, climate and other issues.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Progressives have long wanted to tax unrealized gains from billionaires\u2019 stocks, bonds, land holdings, homes, artwork, cars, yachts and other property. As appealing as this sounds, the scheme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1536787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1536787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1536787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1536787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1536787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1536787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1536787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}