South Gibson Star-Times

B-7 Tuesday, Januar y 16, 2018 South Gibson Star-Times Minority View by Walter E. Williams The Weekly by Alden Heuring Dirty college secrets The week in verse Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner Global warming can't be blamed for the cold snap, bomb cyclone is nothing new Pursuit of the Cure by Star-Parker Trump can take credit for black unemployment drop Remember when global warm- ing meant the planet was supposed to, well, warm up? Temperatures would rise, and all manner of eco- logical calamity would ensue? Me too. So it was surprising to find myself shivering, like other Americans, through several days of arctic chill and extreme cold, on- ly to hear Al Gore blame it on glob- al warming. He didn't use the w-word, though. "It's bitter cold in parts of the U.S., but climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann explains that's ex- actly what we should expect from the climate crisis," Mr. Gore tweet- ed on Jan. 4. See, it's a "climate crisis" now. But it's hard to blame him for try- ing some rebranding. A fter all, pre- diction after prediction has come to naught. But no matter: Like oth- er Doomsday prophets, Mr. Gore just acts like the last missed dead- line didn't happen and comes up with a new one. Which is why it's important to remind ourselves of what Mr. Go- re has said in the past. Consider, for example, how he said global warming would cause the north polar ice cap to be completely free of ice within five years. When did he say that? Nine years ago. News flash: the Arctic still has ice. Indeed, according to the Na- tional Snow and Ice Data Cen- ter, "ice growth during Novem- ber 2017 averaged 30,900 square miles per day." Oops. So how about the evidence for the latest cold snap? Mr. Gore's source, Michael Mann, says the ultra-chilly temps we've been endur- ing are "precisely the sort of extreme winter weather we expect because of climate change." As the planet warms, he says, we'll see more cold snaps and "bomb cyclones." Seems counter-intuitive, but Mr. Mann suggests this is because warming is "causing the jet stream to meander in a particular pattern" that leads to these cold spells. I use the word "suggests," how- ever, because this is simply a the- ory — one that other scientists are not sold on. (Mr. Gore and the rest of the climate-crisis crowd often act like their ideas are universal- ly accepted — that the scientific community is in complete agree- ment with them. But there is more room for doubt and disagreement than they care to admit.) Just ask Kevin Trenberth, a sci- entist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "Winter storms are a manifestation of win- ter, not climate change," he recent- ly told the Daily Caller. "The Arc- tic is greatly affected by climate change, and it has a feedback ef- fect — but not in winter." Even if Mr. Gore and Mr. Mann are correct about the link between global warming and cold snaps, the record works against them there, too. "The frequency of cold waves have decreased during the past 50 years, not increased," Universi- ty of Washington clima- tologist Cliff Mass says. "That alone shows that such claims are baseless." The term "bomb cy- clone" is new to most of us, but it's been around for a while. Climatologist Judith Curry recently told the Caller that it was coined almost 40 years ago by Fred Sanders of MIT, who spent a lot of time study- ing such storms. Moreover, there are about 50 or 60 bomb cyclones every year, but most of them occur too far out to sea for us to notice. Al Gore and his fellow travelers may have trouble admitting that they could be wrong. But their nev- er-look-back crusade isn't helping scientific research. "It is very disappointing that members of my profession are making such obviously bogus claims," Cliff Mass said. "It hurts the science, it hurts the credibili- ty of climate scientists, and weak- ens our ability to be taken serious- ly by society." That's what happens, though, when we bend facts to fit theories — and not the other way around. And remember, Al, as the old song goes, "Baby, it's cold outside." Ed Feulner is founder of The Heritage Foundation (www.heri- tage.org). A frequent point I have made in past columns has been about the ed- ucational travesty happening on ma- ny college campuses. Some people have labeled my observations and concerns as trivial, unimportant and cherry-picking. While the spring se- mester awaits us, let's ask ourselves whether we'd like to see repeats of last year's antics. An excellent source for college news is Campus Reform, a conserva- tive website operated by the Leader- ship Institute (https://www.campus- reform.org). Its reporters are college students. Here is a tiny sample of last year's bizarre stories. Donna Riley, a professor at Pur- due University's School of Engineer- ing Education, published an article in the most recent issue of the peer-re- viewed Journal of Engineering Edu- cation, positing that academic rigor is a "dirty deed" that upholds "white male heterosexual privilege." Riley added that "scientific knowledge it- self is gendered, raced, and coloniz- ing." Would you hire an engineering education graduate who has little mastery of the rigor of engineering? What does Riley's vision, if actually practiced by her colleagues, do to the worth of degrees in engineering ed- ucation from Purdue held by female and black students? Sympathizing with Riley's vision is Rochelle Gutierrez, a math education professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In her recent book, she says the ability to solve al- gebra and geometry problems per- petuates "unearned privilege" among whites. Educators must be aware of the "politics that mathematics brings" in society. She thinks that "on many levels, mathematics itself operates as Whiteness." A fter all, she adds, "who gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in math- ematics, and who is seen as part of the mathematical community is general- ly viewed as White." What's worse is that the university's interim provost, John Wilkin, sanctioned her vision, telling Fox News that Gutierrez is an established and admired scholar who has been published in many peer-re- viewed publications. I hope that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham- paign's black students don't have the same admiration and stay away from her classes. Last February, a California State University, Fullerton professor as- saulted a CSUF Republicans mem- ber during a demonstration against President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration. The students identified the assailant as Eric Canin, an anthropology professor. Fortunate- ly, the school had the good sense to later suspend Canin after confirming the allegations through an internal in- vestigation. Last month, the presidents of 13 San Antonio colleges declared in an op-ed written by Ric Baser, president of the Higher Education Council of San Antonio, and signed by San Anto- nio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and 12 oth- er members of the HECSA that "hate speech" and "inappropriate messag- es" should not be treated as free speech on college campuses. Their vision should be seen as tyranny. The true test of one's commitment to free speech doesn't come when he permits people to be free to make statements that he does not find offensive. The true test of one's commitment to free speech comes when he permits peo- ple to make statements he does deem offensive. Last year, University of Geor- gia professor Rick Watson adopted a policy allowing students to select their own grade if they "feel undu- ly stressed" by their actual grade in the class. Benjamin Ayers, dean of the school's Terry College of Business, released a statement condemning Watson's pick-your-own-grade poli- cy, calling it "inappropriate." He add- ed: "Rest assured that this ill-advised proposal will not be implemented in any Terry classroom. The University of Georgia upholds strict guidelines and academic policies to promote a culture of academic rigor, integrity, and honesty." Ayers' response gives us hope that not all is lost in terms of academic honesty. Other campus good news is a re- port on the resignation of George Cic- cariello-Maher, a white Drexel Uni- versity professor who tweeted last winter, "All I Want For Christmas is White Genocide." He said that he re- signed from his tenured position be- cause threats against him and his family had become "unsustainable." If conservative students made such threats, they, too, could benefit from learning the principles of free speech. There's plenty to celebrate in the December Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing black unemployment at 6.8 percent, the lowest ever since they started re- porting the data in 1972. President Trump tweeted out his excitement and, of course, took credit for the good news. Has there ever been a politician who didn't take credit for good news on his watch (or rationalize away respon- sibility for bad news)? The president's detractors, of course, wasted no time in chal- lenging him, pointing out that un- employment rates have been drop- ping since the economic recovery started, well before Trump took of- fice. Trump, they say, is as respon- sible for this latest monthly drop as he is for the morning sunrise. It seems to me quite reasonable for Trump to take credit for this. There are, indeed, positive things happening as result of his leader- ship–deregulation, a new tax bill, overall business-friendly policies and rhetoric. These things create a business environment of optimism and confidence, which drives in- vestment and increases demand for labor. However, rather than obsess- ing about what particular politi- cian to praise or excoriate for cer- tain economic results, our discus- sion should be about policies and not about personalities. Let's savor this news but not lose our sobriety regarding the great task before us in this community. The latest 6.8 percent black un- employment figure sounds great for blacks. But not for whites. The white rate for December was 3.7 percent. Why should there be cel- ebrations that the black rate is "on- ly" 3.1 percentage points higher than the white rate? Why should there be a different eco- nomic standard for blacks? Black unemploy- ment rates have av- eraged twice the white rate since 1972. Black poverty rates are around twice the national average. Black income and household wealth have hardly changed, re- maining a fraction of that of whites. This is the conversation we should be having. When do all American citizens participate equally in our national economic cornucopia? Donald Trump was onto some- thing when he asked blacks, during the presidential campaign, "What do you have to lose? " Trump is offering a mindset that blacks should relish. A com- pletely new and different reality. The cultural and political reali- ty that blacks have turned to for years–big government–is the rea- son these gaps persist. It's time for something new. Black unemployment peak- ed at 16.8 percent in March 2010 during President Obama's efforts to recover from the 2007-2008 eco- nomic collapse. But the irony is that the collapse was driven by government policies put in place to help low-income Americans to make housing pur- chases. Contrary to what Barack Obama pitched to the country– blaming business and claiming the problem was insuf- ficient government and regulation–American En- terprise Institute scholar Peter Wallison has shown the opposite. Government policies mandating higher quo- tas of mortgages for low- to moderate-income bor- rowers put an increas- ing percentage of sub- prime mortgages on the market. By 2008, according to Wallison, 56 percent of the mortgages ac- quired by Fannie Mae and Fred- die Mac–the two massive govern- ment-backed mortgage compa- nies–were in this category. Then everything collapsed. An ocean of new regulations on financial services, enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, was the Democratic Congress' answer to their own misdiagnosed analy- sis of what caused the collapse. As a result, we had a slower-than-nor- mal economic recovery. These are the discussions we need today. How do we get out of the big government mindset that has been a drag on our economy and has perpetuated economic underperformance in low-income communities? In this context, Trump is right to boast. He is bringing badly needed new thinking on issues concerning low-income America. It's already making a difference. Star Parker is an author and president of CURE, Center for Ur- ban Renewal and Education. Con- tact her atwww.urbancure.org. A lot happened this week, so let's review with a gaggle of haiku. ~~~ Made it to work! Just twenty minutes late... ninety- five people called in?! ~~~ Flannery is great, but so are babysitters. A whole day to date! ~~~ Did you know? Mass is never cancelled. As far as I know, anyway. ~~~ Spent my last Christmas money on a game I'll never play. Mogami River. ~~~ New audiobook! Nine-and-a-half hours long! ...Over already? ~~~ A burst pipe is a great excuse to finally clean the laundry room. ~~~ Flannery will not get out of her toy car. Not even to change diapers... ~~~ Funny things happen when you're too sleepy to write a proper column. ~~~ SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 812-753-3553 We're not afraid to shed some light on the truth. South Gibson We've been giving it to South Gibson and the surrounding counties for a long time, why not share what news you have with others? NEWS! 812-753-3553 South Gibson

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