Live from the Republicans' Self-Made Gehenna: As Sam Wang said: "Gingrich begat Limbaugh, and Limbaugh begat W, and W begat Palin, and Palin begat Cain, and Cain begat Trump..." Now if only they would go dwell East of Eden and leave the rest of us alone!
: Donald Trump's War on Data: "People... share the same data...
...Over the last few days, we've heard a presidential contender make comments completing ignoring the data. This should concern everyone.... I live in California, and I was shocked to hear Donald Trump say there is no drought in the state.... Residents of Southern California–who witnessed a much drier than average winter this year despite the occurrence of one of the strongest El Niño events on record–can certainly attest to this. In fact, nearly all of California is still ‘missing’ at least 1 year’s worth of precipitation over the past 4 years, and in Southern California the numbers suggest closer to 2-3 years’ worth of ‘missing’ rain and snow. These numbers, of course, don’t even begin to account for the effect of consecutive years of record-high temperatures....
This graph shows the snow water content for Upper Tyndall Creek for the last 20+ years....
This is the fifth dry year in a row along the JMT--although more snow than the previous four years.
As Swain noted, 'California remains in a significant drought'. Mr. Trump's comments were incorrect and irresponsible.
Second, Mr. Trump was also quoted as saying that anyone who believes the unemployment rate is 5% is a 'dummy'. Trump says he thinks the US unemployment rate is close to 20 percent.... I don't believe the headline U-3 unemployment rate tells the entire story, and that is why I also track U-6.... But U-3 is measured in a transparent way-and remains a key measure of unemployment-and is measured consistently.... Currently U-6 is at 9.7%... is still elevated and there is still slack in the labor market.... Looking at the data, Mr. Trump's suggestion that unemployment is closer to 20% than 5% is absurd. I guess Trump thinks I'm a 'dummy'! I think he is reckless and irresponsible.
