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“Rebel Nerd of Meteorology” has Twitter meltdown over Trump election

“Rebel Nerd of Meteorology” has Twitter meltdown over Trump election

“I know many ppl feel deep despair about climate, especially post-election”

Eric Holthaus is a meteorologist who writes at Slate.com.

Rolling Stone calls him the “Rebel Nerd of Meteorology“:

Last fall, meteorologist Eric Holthaus was waiting for a plane in San Francisco when he made a life-changing decision. He’d just finished pitching Silicon Valley on an app that would bring quality forecasts to underdeveloped countries suffering from climate change-related storms. Investors were less than enthused. “These are the people controlling the world’s forward-thinking economy, and they don’t get we have to take drastic action on climate change,” he says. So Holthaus made a bold stance to forever reduce his own carbon emissions: The flight home to Wisconsin would be the last time he’d ever get on a plane.

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/meet-eric-holthaus-the-rebel-nerd-of-meteorology-20140212

Holthaus is so afraid of a Trump presidency, he’s seeking to preserve data against destruction, as he wrote in this WaPo Op-Ed on December 13, 2016, Why I’m trying to preserve federal climate data before Trump takes office:

The incoming administration is likely to be willfully hostile toward the scientific process, with far-reaching implications. One of the most tangible consequences of sharp cutbacks in federal funding for climate science is the potential loss of critical data — whether by neglect or malice — that underlie global efforts to understand our climate system. By all accounts, that’s exactly what Trump and his team want: Ignorance of how human actions are affecting our planet makes it easier to maintain the status quo….

As a scientist and a journalist focusing on climate (and the parent of two toddlers who will one day have to live in the world Trump seems eager to destroy), I can’t sit by and watch this happen. On Saturday, after news broke of Tillerson’s nomination, I began an effort to systematically catalogue and preserve as much of the federal government’s publicly available climate science data as possible in the next five weeks.

Holthaus had a meltdown on Twitter yesterday that is gaining a lot of attention, and thousands of retweets. The tweet also has turned into something of group therapy as others who share his despair respond with words of encouragement.

https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus/status/817503888500633600

https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus/status/817503888500633600

https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus/status/817503888500633600

Apparently many people share his despair:

https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus/status/817503888500633600

https://twitter.com/Mighty_Ginge/status/817552033171419136

https://twitter.com/NiknakNikki/status/817524119709294592

https://twitter.com/jaytay777/status/817570965303365632

Read through the responses to the original tweet for much more reaction.

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Comments

‘Preserve’ the federal climate data? Like the NOAA surface temperature data that the feds ‘corrected’ to get their models to show the desired results? I’m so sick and tired of these pompous douchebags.

He seems to be really enjoying his martyrdom.

    Tom Servo in reply to irv. | January 7, 2017 at 11:25 am

    You’ve got the perfect analogy, because what Holthaus is experiencing (and making a public show of) is religious mania, not science.

    In fact, his display is a pretty good view into the minds of many of the warmists. He actually believes that he has been appointed to be the World’s Messiah, and that without him, Humanity Will Perish.

    I won’t say he needs to be locked up – with his decision to never fly again, he’s well on his way to just being another crazy old man who lives out in the woods.

      Common Sense in reply to Tom Servo. | January 7, 2017 at 4:33 pm

      Maybe a “Unabomber” in the making! Seems close to the edge.
      Pompous, elite, arrogant fool!

      I can not wait for the first few weeks of the Trump administration. Buckle up! The lefty’s are going to go Bat *hit crazy. Off the scales…………….. 🙂

    Milwaukee in reply to irv. | January 7, 2017 at 2:24 pm

    “He seems to be really enjoying his martyrdom.”

    To be a “martyr” one must be put to death by an others hand. He is just having a massive pity-party.

    As my daughter once advised, when she was in middle-school: He needs to cry himself a river, build a bridge, and get over it.

    I seem to recall that some of the martyred by Nero, who had them burnt alive, had their bodies on display in Nero’s garden. He was still pissed at them because of the expressions of joy on their faces. Generally martyrs rejoice at the opportunity to be with their Father in Heaven.

Wow. Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs. I remember when he went totally nuts – what was it, about ten years ago?

    Tom Servo in reply to snopercod. | January 7, 2017 at 6:09 pm

    Ha! I remember that, I used to read his blog. I think the feeling is that today, the vast majority of the “posters” on his site are all Chuckie’s sock puppets. He seems to greatly enjoy talking to himself, especially when he can praise himself.

“The flight home to Wisconsin would be the last time he’d ever get on a plane.”

That’s an excellent start.

Now, cease to use any carbon-based heating for your Wisconsin home, and make sure you never procreate.

That should do it…

    Bob00 in reply to Ragspierre. | January 7, 2017 at 1:02 pm

    Wisconsin pretty well explains it all for me.

      Tom Servo in reply to Bob00. | January 7, 2017 at 6:11 pm

      Outside of Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin is really a pretty level headed place. Sure, they like to drink a heck of a lot, but who am I to hold that against them?

    Obama’s EPA declared CO2 a dangerous pollutant, so I’m thinking this guy should go ahead and do what’s right for Mother Gaia.

Another Voice | January 7, 2017 at 12:00 pm

This is what becomes of the Snowflakes in the years after leaving the academia bubble. The hope of seeking any type of stability is not very promising as the counselors he seeks are ones also seeking counseling in order to ‘cope’. Both sides of his coin are ‘product’ of the enlightened generation. His second path of blogging/tweet seems hopeless as he is commiserating only with like minded Snowflakes. Yes, I can see him living out his days off the grid in a Yurt.

Best.

Election.

Ever.

    DieJustAsHappy in reply to tom swift. | January 7, 2017 at 12:56 pm

    I find it rather curious that a blog named “Legal Insurrection” has so few positive articles about the progression of the one, legal insurrection that is, which took place on November 8, 2016. Publishing article after article of those who are having a “meltdown” gets, after a time, rather revealing, tedious, and boring. Furthermore, it seems to deflect from and tarnish, by the continual lifting up of those convulsing over the election, the work that has been done by Team Trump/Pence during this time of transition.

    I don’t believe President-Elect Trump is beyond criticism, by no means. However, I do believe he’s earned credit where credit is due. Thus far, I think he’s earned a considerable amount. So, yes: “Best. Election. Ever.”

      One feature of LI has been to point out the lunacy of so-called politicized ‘scholars’ and the malignant flakes that run our schools.

      If you don’t hear it here, you might never hear it. That would be bad.

      Trump has not received credit where credit is due? Please enlighten those of us who have not a single clue as to what Trump has done for which he he deserves credit. He has made an enormous number of promises that will go unfulfilled. He has insulted everybody and everyone but cannot abide unfavorable critiques about his words and actions I could go into speciics bur y’all have heard them all and the Trumpsters don’t listen.

What’s the point of preserving data that has already been corrupted? Surely he would have been better off investing his time and effort in to preserving something of use like the prestige, unaltered climate data BEFORE it was changed?

Mailman

As I read some of the comments from dear fragile Eric himself and his oh-so-caring supporters, I couldn’t help smiling and thinking of Jack Handey. Their comments are a mother lode for his Deep Thoughts.

https://thanh3.wordpress.com/2008/06/09/24-deep-thoughts-by-jack-handey/

    “22) I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they’d never expect it.”

    Who is “us” to this moron?

      I always loved Jack Handy! As to who is “us”, I’ve always remembered another Jack Handy quote not on that list:

      “In the future, I hope Americans are thought of as a vicious, warlike people, because then people will name their High School teams “The Americans”, and that will be cool.”

Amature virtue signaling. Do it right… go find a tree you really like, give it a hug and then sit beside it and turn yourself into fertilizer.

Now that would be some world class virtue signaling.

Thank you for preserving the evidence of your perfidy in advance of the investigations.

Are you all taking sadistic pleasure in watching Eric Holthaus’s slow motion mental meltdown….or is it just me?

    Barry in reply to MarkJ. | January 7, 2017 at 2:19 pm

    LOL, yes of course.

    I’m looking forward to his suicide. There are lots of people that just deserve death. Stupidity is a general cause of such.

Barack Obama has only four years to save the world. That is the stark assessment of Nasa scientist and leading climate expert Jim Hansen who last week warned only urgent action by the new president could halt the devastating climate change that now threatens Earth. Crucially, that action will have to be taken within Obama’s first administration, he added. — “President ‘has four years to save Earth’,” the London Guardian, January 17, 2009.

The science is “settled.” We are all GONNA DIE.

So, this is what we do when we are hopelessly doomed.

The Profits (sic) were wrong. The zealots will now fall on their scalpels.

casualobserver | January 7, 2017 at 3:09 pm

I question the value of preserving the data made public. It’s proven to be tainted. Finding and preserving the original data is infinitely more valuable. Not for the political narrative this guy hopes to maintain. But for discerning the real scientific truths. Eventually….

It’s a good thing I didn’t go into psychology. I can’t imagine trying to sit through an hour with this guy without laughing.

Henry Hawkins | January 7, 2017 at 4:22 pm

As I went through his posts, the sense I got was the common situation where a person suffering from depression conflates an external cause, similar to the alcoholic who believes he wouldn’t have to drink if it wasn’t for his inadequate wife.

    Elliott in reply to Henry Hawkins. | January 7, 2017 at 5:23 pm

    They always, always have a external “cause” rather than address their own issues. It is a convenient self avoidance technique and casting blame. The television series Hoarders (which I was unfortunate enough to watch while hospitalized recently-ugh) are extreme examples of people not dissimilar from Mr Holthaus. And yes he is depressed and has assigned an external cause for his feelings. Some happy pills and he would forget all about climate change.

      Henry Hawkins in reply to Elliott. | January 7, 2017 at 7:05 pm

      It’s a defense mechanism of which the victim is unaware. What ever one’s problems, if you convince yourself the cause(s) are external (bad wife, mean boss, evil corporations, etc., etc.) then you are absolved of responsibility for your problems; any solutions can only come from people and external forces one cannot control. Unfortunately, it rarely happens that MY problems depend on a change in YOUR behaviors.

The only reason someone would want to delete a federal database containing scientific data would be because that database contained demonstrably false information. A few years ago a DOI scientist went to jail for misusing government resources because he created a bunch of false climate date using government time and equipment…and got caught.

If someone is deleting climate data, it is because they fear that the new administration is going to do an audit and that they will be prosecuted.

For a start he could quit exhaling….

star1701gazer | January 7, 2017 at 7:25 pm

The thing that scares me about these people is summed up by a quote from one of his tweets above: “We don’t deserve this planet”. These people really seem to me to believe that the world would be better off without humanity, and are actively working towards making that happen in the long term. That is scary!

Reading that stuff – that’s 15 minutes I’ll never get back.