Climate Change -- conspiracy theory or is it time we all drive a Prius?

Quote: Gandler

The gas tax in OR is 40 cents a gallon. So those are fair rates for .4/gallon. The federal tax is .18 a gallon (less than half of O.) and they want to charge almost the same that your State is charging. That is my problem with the federal breakdown.

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Former employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launched Climate.us, an independent nonprofit website to restore public access to trusted U.S. climate information.

The team previously managed Climate.gov, NOAA's main climate website for nearly 15 years, until its staff were eliminated during federal workforce cuts in 2025. Although NOAA's climate data remained online, it became difficult for the public to find and understand.

Climate.us brings back climate dashboards, news, maps, educational resources and 15 years of archived content, all reviewed by more than 80 volunteer scientists for accuracy.

Funded in part by over 2,500 public donors, the nonprofit says it will remain nonpartisan, presenting scientific evidence without advocating political policies.
The project aims to ensure that reliable climate information remains accessible, even when political changes affect government agencies.

Quote: odiousgambit

My initial impression with climate.us is that the information is intended to cause as much panic as possible, with counter-indications not allowed. I'm not qualified to make judgment on each category presented and won't try.

Quote: odiousgambit

I often wonder if the folks at places like climate dot us ever stop to think about how their support for crackpot ideas creates such a backlash that, net, the world just goes back to more use of fossil fuels than ever

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There is an immense body of peer-reviewed, empirical scientific research spanning economics, sociology, and criminology that explicitly isolates the effects of undocumented immigration. Dozens of think tanks, academic institutions, and federal agencies continuously analyze these datasets, though researchers must often rely on demographic modeling or rare localized datasets (like Texas DPS records) because federal crime data does not standardly track immigration status.

The overwhelming consensus from this academic literature reveals distinct findings across key areas:

📊 Impact on Crime and Public

Safety

Lower Offending Rates: Peer-reviewed studies consistently show that undocumented immigrants are arrested and incarcerated at significantly lower rates than native-born U.S. citizens. A landmark study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) found that U.S. citizens are twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes compared to undocumented individuals.

Macro Crime Trends: Longitudinal research tracked by the Cato Institute and other nonpartisan bodies indicates that higher concentrations of undocumented immigrants in metropolitan areas generally correlate with decreases or no change in violent crime, property crime, and drug overdose deaths.

Dissenting / Outlier Data: Advocacy groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) argue that federal SCAAP data indicates higher incarceration rates in certain localized border jurisdictions, though main academic consensus attributes border crime metrics primarily to the dynamics of smuggling rather than resident immigrant populations.📈

Economic and Fiscal Impacts

Labor Market Complementarity: Most labor economists find that undocumented workers fill crucial low-skilled gaps in agriculture, hospitality, and construction, acting as complements to native workers rather than direct competitors.

Net Fiscal Effect: A comprehensive literature review by the Migration Policy Institute shows that the net economic impact is close to zero, or a "wash". While undocumented immigrants pay billions in sales, property, and income taxes, they consume local resources via public schooling and emergency healthcare.

The Local vs. Federal Divide: Research emphasizes a distinct structural mismatch. The federal government enjoys a net positive fiscal windfall because undocumented workers pay into Social Security and Medicare without being legally eligible to draw benefits. Conversely, local and state governments bear a disproportionate financial burden for public services like education and county hospital systems.

Mass Deportation Projections: Recent general equilibrium models from the Wharton Budget Model and the Baker Institute project that large-scale mass deportations would reduce U.S. GDP by 1% to 6% over the next decade, spike inflation, and deeply aggravate current labor shortages.

"Trumpsplain (def.) explaining absolute nonsense said by TRUMP.

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There is an immense body of peer-reviewed, empirical scientific research spanning economics, sociology, and criminology that explicitly isolates the effects of undocumented immigration. Dozens of think tanks, academic institutions, and federal agencies continuously analyze these datasets, though researchers must often rely on demographic modeling or rare localized datasets (like Texas DPS records) because federal crime data does not standardly track immigration status.

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Lower Offending Rates: Peer-reviewed studies consistently show that undocumented immigrants are arrested and incarcerated at significantly lower rates than native-born U.S. citizens. A landmark study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) found that U.S. citizens are twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes compared to undocumented individuals.

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Mass Deportation Projections: Recent general equilibrium models from the Wharton Budget Model and the Baker Institute project that large-scale mass deportations would reduce U.S. GDP by 1% to 6% over the next decade, spike inflation, and deeply aggravate current labor shortages.

Quote: odiousgambit

and to think RXwine advocates lower population!