Climate Realism and the Battle Against Groupthink

On October 10, 2023, Kim Monson examines the intersection of climate policy and cronyism with podcaster Tom Nelson, who reveals how groupthink perpetuates the climate narrative and how carbon trading enriches insiders at public expense. School board candidate Deb Schmidt exposes alarming proficiency gaps in Colorado’s D49 district while advocating for parental rights. Producer Luke Cashman provides analysis of the Israel-Hamas conflict and the cyclical nature of empire decline.

Exposing the Climate Narrative and Carbon Credit Schemes

Start listening at 33:27 – Hour 1

Tom Nelson, host of the Tom Nelson Podcast with over 155 episodes featuring climate scientists and skeptics, discusses what he calls climate realism. Nelson began questioning peer-reviewed science after investigating a dubious 2005 claim about ivory-billed woodpecker rediscovery, which led him to examine the climate debate with similar scrutiny.

Nelson argues that groupthink drives much of the scientific consensus on climate change. Many scientists, he contends, genuinely believe the narrative because they assume others have proven the underlying claims, without doing their own sanity checking. He points to Richard Lindzen’s observation that controlling carbon means controlling life itself, from farming practices in the Netherlands to 15-minute cities and meat consumption limits.

The conversation turns to the financial incentives behind climate policy. Nelson describes carbon credit trading as a massive scam where companies like Apple claim their data centers run on wind power through accounting gimmicks while actually drawing from the same grid as everyone else. He notes that Al Gore Jr. sits on Apple’s board of directors and has profited handsomely from climate-related investments.

“I think a major part of the whole narrative is just straight-up groupthink. I think a lot of scientists who believe in that narrative they truly do believe in it, just because they think that someone else has proven that CO2 is the climate control knob.”

– Tom Nelson, Host of the Tom Nelson Podcast

Kim connects this discussion to the documentary “A Climate Conversation,” which premiered at Rockley’s Event Center and will broadcast on Newsmax. Nelson flew in specifically for the event and praised its reasonable, data-driven approach to climate questions.

The Israel-Hamas Conflict and Lessons from Rome

Start listening at 58:52 – Hour 2

Luke Cashman, producer for the Kim Monson Show and featured monthly guest representing his generation’s perspective, provides analysis of the Hamas attack on Israel that dominated headlines. Cashman notes widespread confusion among his peers about how to interpret the conflict, drawing parallels to debates over Russia and Ukraine.

Cashman questions how Israeli intelligence, considered among the world’s best, missed signs of the coordinated multi-pronged attack involving rockets and ground infiltration. He observes that the conflict has diverted attention from other pressing issues, comparing the phenomenon to Rome’s packed coliseums during the empire’s decline when citizens sought distraction from collapse.

The discussion expands to examine the historical cycle of empires. Cashman references the pattern where hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times. At approximately 250 years, the average lifespan of empires, America may be approaching a turning point that will reshape its character over the coming decades.

“My humble opinion in a lot of this is I don’t think anyone here is a good guy. I don’t think there are any good guys in this conflict.”

– Luke Cashman, Producer, The Kim Monson Show

Kim connects the conversation to America’s founding principles of liberty and equality, arguing that the nation’s unique philosophical foundation distinguishes it from historical empires like Rome. She emphasizes the importance of engaging in the battle of ideas to preserve these principles for future generations.

Parental Rights and Student Proficiency in Colorado Schools

Start listening at 18:24 – Hour 1

Deb Schmidt, candidate for school board in Colorado’s D49 district covering Falcon and parts of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, raises serious concerns about educational outcomes and parental involvement. After attending school board meetings for over two years, Schmidt has documented troubling patterns in how districts prioritize programs over fundamental academics.

Schmidt presents stark statistics from the Colorado Department of Education showing 79.6 percent of D49 seventh graders lack math proficiency while 61.6 percent of third graders cannot read at grade level. The district has remained in the red for workforce readiness since 2016. Meanwhile, she notes, D49 operates 19 different social-emotional learning programs across its four zones, creating costly overlap and diverting resources from core instruction.

“Schools constantly tell us that the educators are the experts when it comes to our children, and I believe the parents and the extended family are the experts in any child’s life. The family knows that child in ways that a 180-day-a-year expert can never match.”

– Deb Schmidt, D49 School Board Candidate

Schmidt advocates for curriculum transparency, arguing that proprietary clauses and password-protected online portals effectively hide educational materials from the parents who fund them through taxes. She calls for school boards to reject any contract renewals that contain concealment provisions.