CARTOON: “Blame For A Hurricane”

From Clay Jones on his political cartoon “Blame For A Hurricane,” how climate change is being blamed for Hurricane Matthew by scientists, and how gays are being blamed for it by the religious right

While you can’t entirely blame climate change for natural disasters, there’s a lot more evidence for it being a cause than gay marriage.

Yes, there are right-wing nut jobs and religious zealots blaming gays for Hurricane Matthew. One contributor for a popular anti-gay website (which I’m not going to promote here by posting its name) is blaming gay pride parades scheduled for Orlando and Savannah. Another preacher blamed gays in addition to President Obama and Mitt Romney for Hurricane Sandy. How did Mittens get in on this blame action? In 2013, a preacher blamed gay marriage for a tornado in Illinois. Hopefully, it won’t mean the end of times if the Cubs win the World Series. While God might hate Illinois gays, maybe he’s a Cubs fan.

Obama has been derided by conservatives for saying climate change is the greatest threat we face. Republicans wonder how he can blame something they don’t believe in while calling ISIS a “J.V. Team.” The J.V. comment might have been stupid, but we’ll see how many Americans die from weather-related events and how many from ISIS.

Hurricane Matthew is serious business. The hurricane has weakened to a category 3, which can do serious damage. For comparison, Hurricane Andrew made landfall at category 5 in 1992. Hurricane Sandy and Katrina both made landfalls at category 3. Matthew, as Florida governor Rick Scott warned, “will kill you.”

Scott is a denialist on climate change and has attempted to ban state employees from using the term. But even he recognizes how dangerous Matthew is, even if he’s confused over science. Disney has closed its theme park in Orlando. Maybe Scott doesn’t believe in science, but when that talking mouse freaked out, he probably took notice.

I’m not trying to politicize this storm. If climate change is taken seriously, perhaps when storms like this develop in the future they won’t be as fatal or life-threatening. But it’s not liberals who are blaming climate change. It’s scientists. Real scientists, not the “skientists” who are paid off by oil companies and work for the Heartland Institution think tank.

The Drudge Report has politicized Matthew. While the National Hurricane Center was calling for “potentially disastrous impacts” in Florida, Drudge Report said the storm was “ragged” and suggested it could be fizzling. To make matters worse, Matt Drudge (the site’s owner) took to Twitter and accused the government of purposefully inflating Matthew’s intensity to send a message about climate change.

“The deplorables are starting to wonder if govt has been lying to them about Hurricane Matthew intensity to make exaggerated point on climate,” Drudge wrote.

What really sucks is that the Drudge Report has a wide audience of stupid people. I am a pacifist, and I don’t want to see a bunch of conservative Floridians win Darwin Awards tomorrow and this weekend. Plus, when stupid people die, they tend to take innocent people with them. Matt Drudge, who lives in Miami, should bear some responsibility and not give his readers advice that can kill them. If not, then he should take his own advice and plop himself in a beach chair on Daytona Beach.

His first daiquiri will be on me. I’ll make sure there’s a lid on it.

claytoonz.com/2016/10/07/blame-for-a-hurricane

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