Critics blast liberal reporter for seizing upon hurricane devastation to belittle North Carolinians' beliefs



The Guardian, a leftist publication based in the U.K., is facing criticism over a Sunday article that seized upon the devastation wrought in North Carolina by Hurricane Helene as an opportunity to belittle locals' beliefs, attack President Donald Trump, and push a climate alarmist agenda.

The article was penned by the Guardian's "senior climate justice reporter" Nina Lakhani — a British national who previously suggested that nTrump was a terrorist and a fascist; pushed the Russian collusion hoax; claimed that America's border wall created "environmental and cultural scars"; advocated for banning white men from positions of power; and called the British monarchy a "white supremacist institution."

After insinuating that Trump and Elon Musk were to blame for delayed disaster relief, the Guardian reporter expressed concern that in her travels through Buncombe County, North Carolina, "the climate crisis was largely absent from people's thoughts" in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Resident Twila Little Brave, for instance, told the Guardian about her struggles in the wake of the hurricane, her gratitude about being alive, and how the efforts of her community, not her government, helped her survived the ordeal.

Sharon Jarvis, a 59-year-old woman who lives on a mountain slope on the outskirts of the community, criticized the Biden administration's disaster relief or lack thereof and noted that Christian relief groups, local churches, and other volunteer or nonprofit groups — not the government — stepped into the breach to help.

David Crowder, the pastor at a Barnardsville Baptist church, discussed tough living conditions along with potential threats to local pride and the storm's transformation of the landscape.

Since Brave, Jarvis, and Crowder failed to furnish Lakhani with the talking points the foreign reporter needed for her preferred narrative, Lakhani clumsily shoehorned them into the piece herself with the help of fellow travelers.

'We've failed to communicate this in a way that reaches some of the most vulnerable people.'

Lakhani insinuated that Brave and others who "have found comfort from attributing Helene to God's will" were ignoramuses, noting that "the science is clear: the intensity of the wind and rain during Helene was supercharged by the climate crisis, and the frequency and severity of such storms will increase as the planet continues to warm — driven by the world's dependence on the burning of fossil fuels."

While dismissive of locals' religious beliefs, Lakhani appeared more than willing to accept as gospel truth an assertion from Thomas Karl, the former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information, that might rely on misleading and inaccurate claims.

Lakhani shared Karl's belief that "these events will become more intense and stronger. But somehow we've failed to communicate this in a way that reaches some of the most vulnerable people, while they're getting false information from places they trust."

The government watchdog group Protect the Public's Trust noted in a complaint last year that the NOAA's Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters tracking project relies on economic data and cannot as a consequence "distinguish the effect of climate change as a factor on disaster losses from the effect of human factors like increases in the vulnerability and exposure of people and wealth to disaster damages due to population and economic growth."

'This is a vile, mean-spirited article.'

The so-called Billions Project not only has been been cited in over 1,200 articles but has been characterized by the U.S. Global Change Research Program as a "climate change indicator" and had its data cited in 2023 as evidence that "extreme events are becoming more frequent and severe" in the same federal program's "Fifth National Climate Assessment."

Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. noted in a study published June in the Springer Nature journal npj Natural Hazards:

NOAA incorrectly claims that for some types of extreme weather, the dataset demonstrates detection and attribution of changes on climate timescales. Similarly flawed are NOAA's claims that increasing annual counts of billion dollar disasters are in part a consequence of human caused climate change. NOAA's claims to have achieved detection and attribution are not supported by any scientific analysis that it has performed.

Despite outstanding questions about the veracity of claims of intensifying weather, Lakhani framed Karl's statement as the "clear science," then echoed his concern about the germination of alternate viewpoints regarding the storm and broader weather patterns.

Lakhani complained that "false rumors and conspiracy theories," as well as "fossil fuel-friendly" narratives, appear "to resonate among even those directly hit by floods and fires."

When criticizing so-called "disinformation," Lakhani turned to a fellow traveler to shore up her narrative — Sean Buchan, the so-called research director at the leftist censorship outfit Climate Action Against Disinformation.

Buchan appeared to insinuate that rural North Carolinians and other disaster-struck Americans were not smart enough to grasp "climate science" because it is "complicated and nuanced and requires patience." As a result of locals' supposed inability to understand what he and Lakhani believe to be true, Buchan suggested that "propagandists and bad actors will show up in person or online to fill the information vacuum."

Matt Van Swol, a former nuclear scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory, called the Guardian article "absolutely disgusting."

"This is a vile, mean-spirited article from The Guardian," continued Van Swol. "Everything mountain-folk HATE about big city reporters is covered in this article."

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Sen. Kennedy gives perfect response to Hollywood elitists' attack on Americans: 'Stay deplorable, my friend'



U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) issued a showstopper of a response to coastal elitists' characterization of nonconforming American voters as ignorant. In addition to suggesting that Hollywood script-readers like Alec Baldwin and Sharon Stone are "just goofy," Kennedy intimated that President-elect Donald Trump's landslide victory was partly a response to their brand of denigratory rhetoric.

Prominent Democrats have a track record of belittling and dehumanizing Americans who come between them and power.

President Joe Biden called Trump supporters "garbage." Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters "deplorables" and characterized them further as "irredeemable." Former President Barack Obama complained that working-class voters in Pennsylvania who wouldn't vote for him were "bitter" and that "they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them."

This malicious reflex is not unique to leftist politicians. Every two years, wealthy Hollywood script-readers and the media personalities who support them similarly come out of the woodwork to tell the rest of the country how to vote. When that doesn't work, coastal elitists frequently condemn those who stepped out of line.

After the cast of Marvel's "Avengers" and other celebrities failed to convince the majority of Americans not to make the 45th president their 47th president, the condemnations came rolling in from the likes of Alec Baldwin — once again facing the possibility of a manslaughter charge in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins — and Sharon Stone.

Both script-readers decided to denigrate their fellow Americans during panel discussions this week at the Torino Film Festival in Italy.

Blaze News previously reported that Stone blamed President-elect Donald Trump's landslide victory on American ignorance.

"You know, Italy has seen fascism. Italy has seen these things. You guys, you understand what happens. You have seen this before," said Stone, among the many celebrities who supported Harris' latest failed presidential bid. "My country is in its adolescence. Adolescence is very arrogant. Adolescence thinks it knows everything. Adolescence is naive and ignorant and arrogant. And we are in our ignorant, arrogant adolescence."

'They think they're smarter and more virtuous than the American people.'

Baldwin also concluded that Americans' re-election of the candidate who campaigned on peace, secure borders, healthy living, and the dismantling of the administrative state evidenced their ignorance. Unlike Stone, he suggested further that he and his peers offered the remedy.

"In my country, without going into significant detail, half the people in the country are very unhappy. It's a very difficult time in the United States," said Baldwin. "The only way people can learn what is happening — and film is unique in this way — not only what is happening in the United States but around the world, ... you might not learn from the news."

"Television news in the United States is a business. You have to make money," continued the actor, whose net worth is an estimated $70 million. "Not to go into great detail about that, but there's a hole, a vacuum — there is a gap, if you will, in information for Americans."

"Americans are very uninformed about reality, what's really going on with climate change, Ukraine, Israel, you name it — all the biggest topics in the world. Americans have an appetite for a little bit of information," continued Baldwin. "That vacuum is filled by the film industry. Not just the independent film industry, not just the documentary film industry, which are very important around the world, but by narrative films as well where the filmmakers and the buyers, the studios, and the networks and the streamers are willing to go that way."

When pressed about such remarks as well as the stated desire by a Democratic New York state senator to secede from the union following Trump's win, Sen. Kennedy told Fox News' Sean Hannity, "I think these people are goofy. They have the right to their opinion, but they're just goofy."

"They hate George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head. They think our kids ought to be able to change genders at recess. They carry around Ziploc bags of kale to give themselves energy," said Kennedy. "To me, to each his own. To me, kale tastes like I'd rather be fat."

After teasing leftists, Kennedy got serious: "Now, these people are entitled to their opinion, but they have an unwarranted sense of moral and intellectual superiority. They think they're smarter and more virtuous than the American people. And they think we're not real people, but we were, and we are real people, and in this last election, we got real mad."

Referencing the Americans who gave Trump over 2 million more popular votes than his opponent and an 86-vote advantage in the Electoral College, Kennedy added, "We sent a message, clearly, unequivocally. And my message to all my friends and my enemies in America is: Happy Thanksgiving, and stay deplorable, my friend."

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Axelrod: 'Upscale,' 'liberal' NC citizens hit by Helene will 'figure out a way to vote.' Trump-backers in area? Not so much.



Former Obama chief strategist David Axelrod predicted that "upscale," "liberal" North Carolina residents hit hard by Hurricane Helene are "probably going to figure out a way to vote" in the presidential election next month — but suggested that those in the same area who would cast ballots for former President Donald Trump likely won't be as resourceful.

Axelrod — a dyed-in-the-wool leftist — made the eye-popping declaration last week on an episode of his "Hacks on Tap" podcast when speaking about swing states like North Carolina and the devastation Helene left behind.

'I’m not sure a bunch of these folks who’ve had their homes and lives destroyed elsewhere in Western North Carolina — in the mountains there — are gonna be as easy to wrangle for the Trump campaign.'

He called the city of Asheville a "blue dot" in Western North Carolina and said that despite the large-scale displacement in the surrounding area due to Helene, voters in Asheville have the smarts to get their votes in for Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

"Those voters in Asheville are — they’re, you know, the kind of voters who will figure out a way to vote," Axelrod said. "You know, they’re upscale, kind of liberal voters, and they’re probably going to figure out a way to vote."

But as for Trump-backers in the area hit hard by Helene? Not so much, apparently.

"I’m not sure a bunch of these folks who’ve had their homes and lives destroyed elsewhere in western North Carolina — in the mountains there — are gonna be as easy to wrangle for the Trump campaign," Axelrod said.

He added, "I don’t know how that’s all going to play out, but it’s an unpredictable element in North Carolina that has made it maybe a little more interesting" in the run-up to the election.

Axelrod also said that "northern-tier battleground states other than Wisconsin are scary" for Democrats and that "you can't count on them." He added that Harris "needs to find an insurance policy" and a "second act" as the campaign races to the finish line.

How are observers reacting to Axelrod's words?

Fox News pointed out some prominent X users who took issue with Axelrod’s statements:

  • OutKick.com founder Clay Travis wrote, "On his podcast @davidaxelrod says Democrat voters in Asheville, North Carolina are smarter, wealthier and will still show up to vote for Kamala while he thinks Trump voters won’t. This is why Kamala and Biden aren’t helping, they benefit from the disaster."
  • Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of the Federalist, added, "I fear that Axelrod's point is why Harris and Biden are letting these people drown."
  • Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce wondered, "Did ya know that famous Democrat operative David Axelrod figures city Democrats are smarter and more resourceful and will figure out how to vote whereas the dumb Trump deplorables up in the mountains of NC who just lost everything, won't. Was he on the verge of a Kamala cackle?"

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