On global warming, troops and Trump – Oroville Mercury-Register

Response to Barry Johnson, part 1:

— Yes, the climate has always changed. But arguing that mankind has nothing to do with its accelerated warming just isn’t credible. Since 1850, 2,400,000,000,000 tons of CO2 have been emitted by human activity. How could that possibly NOT affect the climate? Governments around the world have successfully responded to crises relating to DDT, leaded gasoline, and ozone-depleting aerosols. It’s not a “hoax” to say we’re capable of responding to global warming, but that task would be much easier without science-denying naysayers.

— In addition to releasing 5,000 Taliban fighters, Trump also drew down U.S. troops in Afghanistan from 13,000 to 2,500 after his election loss, which the Joint Chiefs Chairman described as “potentially dangerous … militarily not feasible nor wise.” Biden’s team executed one of the largest airlifts in history, evacuating over 120,000 people in a matter of days. It’s tragic that 13 service members lost their lives during that mission, but why focus more on them than the 2,400 other troops that died during the Afghanistan war, or better yet, the 0 that have died there since?

— Regarding Biden’s supposed “senility,” if you voted for the guy who saluted a North Korean general, used a Sharpie to change the course of a hurricane, stared into the sun, can’t accept reality, mistook his sexual assault accuser (who he said wasn’t his “type”) for his ex-wife, and speaks at the vocabulary level of an 8 year old, then your opinion of Biden’s mental acuity is laughably irrelevant.

— Scott Paulo, Chico