Fires engulf western states: California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana etc. Read the headlines, 29 fires in California, 35 dead, and at least 90 fires currently in western states.
Fox News Jeff Paul, reported Sept. 11, 2020, “California is one of the hardest hit with a record breaking 3 million acres burned and nearly 4000 homes and buildings lost so far…. The fires also taking a toll in Washington state where more than 100 homes are gone… and in Oregon, more than 35 fires are burning with at least five small towns destroyed.”
This fire destruction is unprecedented. It’s like Anarchists’ street destruction were not getting the media attention they demanded and President Trump had shown moderation by not sending national guard forces into places against the will of mayors and governors seemingly looking to bait escalation as in Kent State May 4, 1970. Seattle, Milwaukee, and Portland no longer drew the viewership it held mid-summer, so anarchists turned to Western forests.
Democratic news outlets blame global warming and say nothing of the avalanche of arsonists. Republican outlets say little of global warming blaming instead decades of kindling matter left by poor forest management. Both use the same arguments used in the 1980’s when forest fires became more common, global warming or poor forest management, neither address the amplified fire increase the last four weeks. In Oregon “half a million residents have been forced to evacuate their homes. That is one of every ten people in their entire state” (Tucker Carlson Tonight, Sept. 11, 2020).
Michael Shellenberger, author of Apocalypse Never and president of Environmental Progress explained why fires, especially hot ones, are more frequent than in previous years. In researching for his book, he interviewed most of the major scientists in California that deal with forestry. He found general agreement in that “we have five times more wood fuel in our forests than we did about 100 years ago and it's really saturated. That's what's driving the intensity of these fires. It's not climate change.” Adding, “if there weren't climate change and the forests were still saturated with this wood fuel we would probably still be having these really intense fires…. So management is the key to saving us.”
Two points were especially convincing. One, “forests that have been surrounded by these high intensity fires, but were well managed …were spared those really hot, high fires and the fires of dropping down to the ground.” Second, if climate change were the main factor causing these fires, then all the forests would be on fire and they're not. We're seeing these well managed forests, these healthy forests are surviving these really severe mega fires” (Shannon Bream, Fox News Tonight, Sept. 14, 2020).
So back to the arsonists. The following 22 persons with ages listed have been arrested for intentionally starting recent fires, some in multiple places: Jedidiah Fulton 39, Alberto Vincent Acosta, Kevin Carle, 37, Ivan Geronimo Gomez 30, Guadalupe Molina-Pacheco, Julian Draper, Demarco Covey 24, Wesley James Bergman 37, Elias Pendergrass 44, Anita Esquivel 37, Vanya Hummel 24, John Davies 55, Christine Comello 36, Alesander Bradford Smith 26, Jesse Peterson 30, Jeffrey Accord 36, Milton Loice Moran 48, Anthony Travis Bodda 21, Alexander Jones 36, Michael Jarrod Bakkeia 41, Jonathan Maas 44 and Sammy Scott Piatt (https://youtu.be/94.JR9dBEo8).
Accused is not conviction and we hope all get a fair trial but the latter takes months, sometimes years. Our point, probably many of these fires are not acts of nature. Manti, Utah has had “14 confirmed arson hot spots” in a national forest near by. No suspects have yet been arrested.
An Oregon Board of Commissioners meeting in Oregon City, Clackamas County met to consider the request of the Sheriff’s Department for a 10:00 p.m. curfew. Captain John Smith informed the board of a significant recent increase in looting and burglaries all over the county. Some extreme groups were “staging gas cans for later destruction,” presumably to start fires. His department was receiving “reports and sightings of people armed with chainsaws, and the goal was to fall telephone poles in hopes of starting further fires.”
One person reported on Facebook, “Some of you still think we’re not being under attack. I found this individual walking in my property as I was driving in, all he had were some matches in his hand. Walked him out of my property at gunpoint and then when we got to some asphalt ground on the main road made him lay down while the cops arrived…. He has got multiple warrants one of them being assaulting a police officer” (https://youtu.be/rfRh3ngn80).
Democrat media outlets want to keep the narrative on climate change rather than arson. This logic allows them to attach the destruction to Trump and followers who do not believe science supports global warming. They believe the anarchy in the cities, and now in the forests, is instead designed to frighten voters to vote for Joe Biden. Biden inferred such, "Climate change is already here, and we're witnessing its devastating effects every single day. We have to get President Trump out of the White House."
Two preceding Democratic presidential candidates agree. Hillary Clinton, “None of this is normal, and confronting climate change is on the ballot this year. Vote as early as you can, for a habitable planet.” Barack Obama, “The fires across the West Coast are just the latest examples of the very real ways our changing climate is changing our communities. Protecting our planet is on the ballot. Vote like your life depends on it—because it does” (Tucker Carson Tonight, Sept. 11, 2020). Protecting us from anarchists and arsonists is also on the ballot.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit http://www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
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