Arizona Democratic Gov. Hobbs appoints nation's first 'chief heat officer' after state's 'hottest summer' on record
Arizona Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs announced last week the nation's first "chief heat officer" as part of her administration's new "Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan."
The governor explained that she released the new plan in response to last year's temperatures, noting that Arizona experienced the "hottest summer... ever recorded." Hobbs claimed that the state's "temperatures have been rising steadily from decade to decade, and each year brings an increase in heat-caused and heat-related deaths and illnesses from the year before."
Hobbs' executive order created the "nation's first Chief Heat Officer position to coordinate the implementation of this Plan," including "heat-specific efforts between agencies on shelter, energy, health, and disaster response." The new position, which "will be instrumental in the Plans' implementation," will work alongside the Governor's Office of Resiliency.
The OOR's director, Maren Mahoney, said, "It's critical that Arizona build a sustainable and resilient state."
"I'm proud to lead this effort across state agencies and in partnership with various sectors, including health and human service providers, the business community, and scientific experts to protect everyday Arizonans and ensure we have the tools we need. Together, I know we can tackle the challenges that lay ahead of us and build a thriving state," Mahoney remarked.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, Dr. Eugene Livar, who has been with the department since 2012, will fill the new chief heat officer position.
"As the state's Chief Heat Officer, Dr. Livar will oversee the implementation of the plan and work to coordinate partnerships between the state, county health departments, local municipalities, communities, the private sector, and community-based organizations. ADHS has also hired a heat relief coordinator that will serve as the statewide point-of-contact for county coordinators and will develop training for community navigators focused on improving access to human service providers," the department reported.
The ADHS praised Livar for his "forward-thinking approach and commitment to public health preparedness."
"I'm excited to take on this role and this important work to make sure Arizona is prepared as possible for this upcoming heat season and beyond," Livar stated.
The governor's plan also includes creating "six new, solar-powered, cooling centers constructed with shipping containers." The cooling centers will be mobile, so they may be relocated to different areas of Arizona as needed.
Hobbs stated, "What I heard time and again from everyday Arizonans was that our state's old approach was not enough."
"As a social worker who has dedicated my life to protecting everyday people, I knew we had to take action. Arizona is no stranger to the heat, yet we have always risen to the challenge, protected our neighbors, and built a sustainable and thriving state. This time will be no different," she noted.
Republican and former state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita called the governor's announcement "an all-time level of absurdity — a 'chief heat officer.' It has to be a joke…we live in the DESERT."
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'A**hole' leftists who said flooded Kentuckians 'had it coming' for voting Republican get shredded — by other Democrats: 'If you're that callous, just enjoy hell'
A number of leftists on Twitter have let it be known that residents of eastern Kentucky who've been devastated by recent flooding more or less "had it coming" for voting Republican.
Some examples:
- "This is heartbreaking, but at the same time, this is what they voted for, this is what voting for science deniers, corporate whores to the fossil fuel industry has gotten us," one user wrote. "And the sad thing is I think they will continue to vote for the same people over and over."
- "The entire country might be more sympathetic if Kentucky residents stopped voting for politicians who vote against their interests. Remember, climate change impacts every living entity on the planet, even your family. No one likes to see suffering," another user declared. "This is what they voted for."
- "@GOP Kentucky had It coming for being despicable garbage Trumpies," another user noted. "YEA I SAID IT! WHAT MF?!"
- "I'm getting a secret twisted pleasure out of the Kentucky floods," another user admitted. "I don't want to seen people & pets hurt, but these backwater Republican turds should know how to float. Don't they sort of deserve it? I'm bad, sorry."
Given leftists' track record for brutal discourse, such reactions sadly aren't very surprising. But what has been quite eye-opening is the pushback from other Democrats against such takes.
'If you’re that callous, just enjoy hell'
The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that a number of folks not typically aligned with Republicans just weren't having any of the left's poison on this matter.
The paper noted that east Tennessee native Skylar Baker-Jordan wrote an article for the United Kingdom-based publication The Independent titled "Liberals saying Kentucky deserves these floods need to take a hard look at themselves."
“Blame the people in power, by all means,” Baker-Jordan wrote, according to the Herald-Leader. “But don’t blame some of the poorest, most neglected, most mocked and marginalized people in our nation.”
The paper noted that five Kentucky counties confirmed to have lost lives in the flooding — Knott, Perry, Breathitt, Letcher, and Clay — average a median household income of $32,464, and up to 37% of their residents live in poverty.
Baker-Jordan added in her piece that as “an Appalachian Democrat, I can barely believe what I’m seeing from people who should be on the same side as me," the Herald-Leader reported.
In addition, Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge got pointedly profane with those piling on the suffering residents in the eastern part of the state.
"If your take on the devastation in eastern Kentucky is to say folks 'deserve it' for how they vote, you’re an asshole," Elridge tweeted. "I don’t give two s**ts about how we might otherwise agree on issues. KY is our home, these are our people, & if you’re that callous, just enjoy hell."
Silas House — an author, a Democrat, and an eastern Kentucky native — took no prisoners among the left, either:
\u201cWhen natural disasters happen in Appalachia, like today\u2019s catastrophic Eastern Kentucky flooding, these are common reactions. A big kiss-my-Appalachian-ass to all who participate in this behavior while people suffer.\u201d— Silas House (@Silas House) 1659023030
House also tweeted: "So many on here lecturing me about how my people live off them. No. Appalachia has fueled this country since the beginning. With timber, coal, gas, our children, our lives. We keep getting pushed down and we keep getting back up."
He added: "We’ve fueled America with our music, our literature, our hearts and souls. Children are dead. People have lost everything. Stop the ignorant and malicious rhetoric."
Meteorologist responds with data after Joe Biden seemingly blames climate change for deadly tornados
Meteorologist Joe Bastardi fired back at President Joe Biden for seemingly blaming the devastating tornado outbreak that struck multiple states last week on climate change.
What did Biden say?
When a reporter asked Biden on Saturday whether climate change contributed to the deadly tornados, Biden pointed to climate change allegedly increasing the intensity of storms.
"All I know is that the intensity of the weather across the board has some impacts as a consequence of the warming of the planet and climate change," Biden said. "The specific impact on these specific storms, I can't say at this point."
"I'm going to be asking the EPA and others to take a look at that," Biden continued. "But the fact is that we all know everything is more intense when the climate is warming. Everything. And obviously, it has some impact here, but I can't give you a quantitative read on that."
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell was more direct. During an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," Criswell said the extreme weather "is going to be our new normal."
"The effects we are seeing of climate change are the crisis of our generation," Criswell said.
How did Bastardi respond?
The famed meteorologist accused Biden of weaponizing tornados and shared data showing that severe weather this year has not been as severe compared to previous years.
"Clueless Joe Biden In action again with his weaponization of Tornados. 1) Violent tornadoes not increasing. 2) this year tornados, hail and wind all together near-record low," Bastardi said. "Mindless media should do their dang job and call him on it, I called Trump out on Dorian jibberish."
The data Bastardi included, coming from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, directly contradicts claims from Biden and Criswell that severe weather is more intense because of climate change.
- The first graph shows that, as carbon emissions increased between 1954 and 2014, the number of annual tornados did not increase; in fact, it went down.
- The second graphs shows that the number of recorded tornados through Dec. 11, 2021, is, in fact, close to a record low.
- The third graph shows that the number of local storm reports of hail — 3,714 through Dec. 11 — is significantly under the average of 7,979 through the same time period.
- The fourth graph shows that the number of local storm reports of damaging winds — 12,780 through Dec. 11 — is also under the average of 13,996 through the same time period.
Clueless Joe Biden In action again with his weaponization of Tornados. 1) Violent tornadoes not increasing. 2) this year tornados, hail and wind all together near-record low. Mindless media should do their dang job and call him on it, I called Trump out on Dorian jibberishpic.twitter.com/AElVGAVMfF— Joe Bastardi (@Joe Bastardi) 1639345154
Climate change hawks love to exploit isolated weather events to promote a certain narrative about the climate. However, climate, by its very definition, describes observable patterns of weather over long periods of time — not isolated events.
Thus, if climate change were truly driving more intense weather, such a phenomenon would be observable over a substantial period of time. But as Colorado University professor Roger Pielke Jr. pointed out on Sunday, the U.S. government's own data shows that tornados, for example, are becoming less common in the U.S.
"According to data from the U.S. National Weather Service from 2000 to 2020 only four of the strongest category of tornadoes were observed (which are labelled as F/EF5 tornadoes) In comparison, from 1954 to 1974 36 (!) such powerful tornadoes were observed," Pielke explained. "Our research on tornado damage in the United States over many decades shows a decline that is suggestive of an actual decline in tornado incidence."
Pielke also highlighted an important point to consider when politicians and those with an agenda begin blaming climate change for weather disasters.
"If it is so well known that disasters are the result of a complex interplay of social and climate factors, why then is climate typically the main focus of attention after every extreme event?" Pielke wrote.
His point: If a tree falls in a forest, but no one hears or sees it, did it make a sound? In a similar way, weather disasters — like the one that happened last week — are only disasters because they impact a significant number of people. If a severe tornado with 200mph winds touches down in rural Nebraska, but causes no damage, no one blames climate change for such an extreme event.
As geographer Gilbert White, known for his work in helping society mitigate the impact of natural disasters, wrote: "Floods are 'acts of God' but flood losses are largely acts of man."
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