What Do Greenlanders Think is Best For Their Future?

By Rich Kozlovich, Tags: Greenland and Donald Trump, Greenland: Did You Know?

Ever since Trump declared America needs to take over Greenland in some fashion the pundits have been having a good time at Trump's expense:

"the chattering classes nearly herniated themselves from laughter. Late-night comedians, blue-check Twitter “experts,” and self-appointed geopolitical geniuses on cable panels all united in synchronized mockery. “Greenland? Is he starting a collection?” they joked, smug in their ignorance. But the laughter only exposed how unserious these voices are when it comes to actual statecraft."

Well, let's explore this.  Today this article, About that spying-on-Denmark hysteria, by Stephen Helgesen appeared at American Thinker saying:

The acting U.S. Ambassador to Denmark was recently summoned to the Danish Foreign Ministry's woodshed over the kerfuffle over the Trump administration's new directive to step up surveillance or information-gathering as intelligence agencies prefer to call it on Greenland.  Reactionary journalists and some politicians here are portraying the directive as a slap in their collective face, something akin to a declaration of a soft war.

As far as I'm concerned, it really doesn’t matter to leftists, anti-American Americans, Democrats, and Europeans who been leeching off America since WWI, what America does, since they will always find some justification to find fault.

After WWII ended Europe was filled with starving people, and one of the most humanitarian efforts the world had ever seen was the Marshall Plan.  Millions of lives were either saved or made much better by that plan, the cost of which would be the equivalent of 133 billion dollars today.  The French resented the Marshall Plan and fought against it since it was their view it enhanced America's position in the world, and diminished their position in the world.  Ego versus starvation, what a vile mentality.

An attitude which has been a foundational social paradigm throughout French history. Even during the war De Gaulle, who was being financed by the allies, said he really didn’t care what happened to the allies as long as France came out ok.

Instead of giving them a seat on the UN Security Council, they should have been treated like the collaborator nation they were, and the same is true of Denmark.

While there were resistance movements in each country, the fact remains, they collaborated.  The French leadership surrendered and accepted what was called Vichy France, a collaborationist government led by Marshall Petain.   Once Denmark surrendered and was occupied by Nazi Germany, Denmark was a conquered nation, and was now nothing more than a geographical designation, no longer existing as an independent nation.  Since they had no “government in exile”, Denmark no longer owned anything, including Greenland. Which FDR or Truman should have simply taken possession of since it was now free from Denmark’s ownership, and a strategically important land mass.

Over fifty years ago I grew tired of hearing - "America's allies abroad" don't like this or don't like that - and I really got sick of hearing these nitwits saying, “when will America learn” this or “when will America learn” that. Learn from who? These European failures?  I could care less what they think, and could care less what happens to them since these nations have already chosen multiple paths to national suicide.

One month ago Helgesen posted a piece describing the fundamental differences between Denmark and the U.S., which are vast. 

What he described is the unjustified arrogant thinking of the European elite, which has been going on since America was founded. Constantly looking down their noses at America, and I got sick of hearing these nitwits saying: “when will America learn” this or “when will America learn” that. Learn from who? European failures?

All of them money grubbing, ungrateful, incompetent failures that only exist because America spent thousands of gallons of blood and trillions of dollars saving them - militarily and economically - and that economic number goes into multiple trillions of dollars as a result of the Bretton Woods thinking.   Yet, with their idiotic globalist economic policies, compounded with their multiculturalist, green, and immigration policies, they’ve thrown that away.

Many Americans have recognized who and what European leadership is really all about, and have been tired of their arrogant stupidity for decades, and really don’t care what Denmark, a nation with a population of 5.947 million thinks. In Ohio we have 11.88 million.

Europe is doomed, and good riddance, they’ve been leech on America for over 100 years, and that ends now, but Greenland is an issue that can’t and won’t go away. 

Greenland is not for sale according the Danish government, and I think it wise to ask why?  When America entered WWI they asked Denmark to sell them the Virgin Islands in order to protect the newly opened Panama Canal and fight off Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare policies, and they agreed, their only warm water possession. 

During WWII the allies put military installations in Greenland, Iceland, and the Faeroes Islands again to counter German submarine warfare, and American's defense of Greenland has been going on ever since.  Denmark's contribution to Greenland's defense?  As far as I can tell it amounts to "a few Danish small warships (that also defend the Faeroes) and a 12 or 16 person sled patrol."  

Iceland declared it's independence in 1944 since Denmark as a conquered nation no longer existed, yet still relies on US protection, as neither Greenland or Iceland are capable of defending themselves.  One reader commented:

Greenland is of strategic importance for America’s national security. For Denmark it’s a point of national pride. In a world with hostile actors like Russia and China, the Danes need to swallow their pride and look at the bigger picture. Once they get past their hurt feelings, they will see that Trump is a benevolent leader who welcomes Danes to visit Greenland as tourists.

So, why is Greenland become such a big deal?  Both Russia and China are attempting to take advantage of their lack of defensive capabilities, and in this piece, David Victor Hanson explains why Greenland so vital to American interests?

I've been saving articled dealing with this issue for some time, and I think this is a good time to post the rest of the links.   

1. Make Greenland tradeable?  How about making Greenland a free trade zone?
2. Is Denmark Poisoning Its Cattle For The Bogus Climate Change Myth? Climate change is part of the plot for the planned obsolescence of the human race, and those pulling the strings don't give a damn what the temperature is outside 
3. What can we give Denmark for Greenland? - Greenland’s destiny away from “Denmarkification” and toward Americanization seems to be unfolding inexorably.

One commenter noted, "I don’t think Denmark can hold on to Greenland. Explorers claiming land for their country and flag is ancient history now. With Chinese and Russian “sharks” circling Greenland, the island residents won’t look to Denmark to save them, they’ll look to the United States for rescue. Greenland natives are probably already considering what would be in their best interests - financially and futuristically for their children and grandchildren - and the answer to that is pretty clear. China? Russia? Or the US?" 

 

Finally, at one point in order "scare" America,  France said they were going to send troops to Greenland, which is interesting since the French keep throwing out their governments on a monthly basis, and they've just been kicked out of all their former African colonies. So, now they're going to declare war on the United States? And Denmark is going to defend against America with dog sleds.  Ya just gotta see the humor in that, so, would someone post a laughing rolling on the ground emoji here.

 

 

P&D and The Week That Was

 Truth is the Sublime Convergence of History and Reality

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De Omnibus Dubitandum, (Everything is to be questioned!)

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This Link will take you to My Commentaries.

By Rich Kozlovich

I consider Victor Davis Hanson to be the premiere historian in America. There are a lot of really excellent historians in the nation, but history is a story, he has a quality so many of the rest lack. He tells a great story.    He asks if you wanted to destroy American, how would you go about it?  Then he gives you the answer by describing the disastrous polices of Joe Biden and the Democrats for the last four years, but he also lays the blame on Republicans, and rightly so.   This didn't just start in 2020, but the last four years was like comparing a runny nose with terminal cancer.   Make sure to watch his video. 

You Gotta Admit That Trump Is Packing Some Major Cajones  - Literally. Remember, if a Republican doesn’t win in 2028, the lawfare is back on and squared. His enemies tried to bankrupt him with lawsuits that would’ve been laughed out of the courts had the defendant not been Donald J. Trump. His enemies tried to frame him and throw him in jail for the rest of his life. When that didn’t work, they tried to kill him. Twice. 

His enemies managed to blow his ear lobe off and murder an innocent man who got in the way. Then the next one tried to do it with a rifle only because he couldn’t come up with the Stinger missile he wanted to get from his Ukrainian buddies.  Talk about high stakes. But Trump doesn’t care. Move over, honey badger. President 47 is in the house, and no Schiffs are given..........

But we need to appreciate the risk our President is taking to Make America Great Again. Trump is risking everything. We know because they’ve already tried to kill him, twice, and about half of them think killing him would be a great idea. That means that for President Trump, this is literally a matter of life and death, and the most awesome and inspiring thing is that he just doesn’t care..........

Last week, Senator Corey Booker "set a new record by delivering the longest speech ever in the history of the Senate", and the accolades poured in from the left.   The fact is, they can throw all the accolades at him they please, but the reality is the man talked for 25 hours and said nothing. How do I know that? Show me one quote the media, or his misfit colleagues keep repeating? Not one. 

 

Winston Churchill’s “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” speech lasted minutes, and that phrase has been quoted for over eighty years.   Standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate in 1987 Ronald Reagan said, ”Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”, and it's been quoted ever since.   In 2018 Cory Booker said, “I am Spartacus”, and everyone laughed!   It's only quoted as proof he's an egomaniacal dolt, for which he’s now presented unquestioned confirmation. 

One commenter at American thinker said:

Quick! Someone post at least five things he said in those 25 hours’ worth repeating or that will go into a “Great quotes of politicians” book. His 25 hours was like camping out in the pasture with the jackass’s and cattle, a lot of noise that amounts to nothing. 

Yes, Booker is Democrat presidential timber for sure, right along with the rest of the Democrat bench.  Gavin Newsom, AOC, Buttigieg, Tampon Timmy Walz, Rahm Emanuel, Kamala Harris, and now it appears Jasmine Crockett is being thrown into the mix.   Senator John Kennedy says he thinks AOC is the leader of the Democrat party now, and he also thinks she's the reason why they put directions on shampoo bottles.  It gets better.  In spite of the influence AOC now has in the party, it's felt it will be Kamala in 2028.  Ya just gotta see the humor in that.  But nonetheless, it's being reported the machinery is already in the works, "but the moment she’s challenged she’ll fall apart again and primary voters will be reminded of what a lousy candidate she is and not want to take the risk."

This Rust Belt Revival piece was a good article, wisely outlining what society really wants: 

‘They want good jobs. They want their kids to do better than they do. They want to own a home. They want to pay down their debt. This isn’t hard.”  

And you’re right, it isn’t that hard to understand, if one wants to understand. Machiavelli noted almost 500 years ago the one foundational truth these elites keep ignoring.   Everything is the basics, the masses just want security. Why do they ignore it? Because the elites want “more”, and don’t care what the masses want or need.   Just like Henry Kissinger and his acolyte Klaus Schwab, who thinks there should be a world government that’s run like China, and in his case, run by China.  Their delusional ideology caused them to make decisions that are so destructive, it will take decades to overcome, and some may never entirely be overcome.

What about Greenland and Denmark?  This was an interesting article which described the unjustified arrogant thinking of the European elite, which has been going on since America was founded. Constantly looking down their noses at America, and entirely too many American leaders seeking their approval.  was a Anglophile, and like Teddy Roosevelt believed in two concepts:  "l'etat se moi", I am the state, and the Constitution is an impediment to human progress.

While publicly proclaiming he was not going to get America involved in WWI, in the background he was doing everything he could to make that happen.  America's involvement turned the tide against Germany because all of Europe was running out of young men to throw up against machine gun emplacements, and the added American demographic, rightly or wrongly, doomed Germany.   That laid the foundation for WWII, and the cold war.  

As the years went by I got sick of hearing "America's allies abroad" don't like this or don't like that.  And I really got sick of hearing these nitwits saying: “when will America learn” this or “when will America learn” that. Learn from who? These European failures?   

America's allies abroad are now and have always been leaky vessels, money grubbing, ungrateful, incompetent failures that only exist because America spent thousands of gallons of blood and trillions of dollars saving them - militarily and economically - and that economic number goes into multiple trillions of dollars as a result of the Bretton Woods thinking. Yet, with their idiotic globalist economic policies, compounded with their multiculturalism, green, and immigration policies, they’ve thrown that away.

Many Americans have recognized who and what European leadership is really all about, and have been tired of their arrogant stupidity for decades.  Make no mistake, I really don’t care what Denmark, a nation with a population of 5.947 million thinks. In Ohio we have 11.88 million, and we think much better than Denmark, or Europe as a whole for that matter.  Europe is doomed, and good riddance, they’ve been leech on America for over 100 years, and that ends now, but Greenland is an issue that can’t and won’t go away. 

 

Truman should have taken it over during WWII, since Germany conquered Denmark, thus it longer existed as an independent nation, and had no say in anything.  They surrendered and had no government in exile.  In spite of the fact Truman was an avid history buff, he was always over his head when it came to geopolitics.

A third Trump term? This is all deliberate Trump hyperbole, and it just ain’t gonna happen. He does love to stir up the pot though. What’s strange is the more he does it the better he look. This could be an edition of Ripley’s Believe it or Not. 

More information is being rolled out about the corruption of the Deep State, especially the FBI.  The conspiracy theorists were right, federal agents were most likely involved in January 6 "Riots:", and the official version of events seriously need to be answered, and the fact is there needs to be a serious investigation nationally as to why the police stand and do nothing while Antifa thugs violently attack conservative students at UC Davis.  Who's responsible for this?  There needs to be lawsuits filed, right along with criminal charges, and officials need to be fired.  

The number of rulings from SCOTUS and these rogue district court justices has been coming fast and furious, and this one, The Supreme Court affirms Justice Boasberg lacked jurisdiction over Trump's deportation decision under the Alien Enemies act.  This ruling is a mixed bag, and it’s time to fix this by Congress passing a law stating the judiciary has exceeded it’s Constitution authority and has no jurisdiction in this matter, and are now in the process of doing so.  They also need to state this law cannot be reviewed by the courts, which the Congress has the right to do, and has done so in the past.    

All this clabber by the federal judiciary is blatant nonsense.  There’s only one thing that needs to be determined about these migrants, and that is if they’re here illegally or not. If they're here illegally then they’re alien criminals and they have no rights under the Constitution, and deportation should be automatic with absolutely no redress from the courts. 

I find this decision by SCOTUS most baffling.   Supreme Court Orders US to Facilitate Return of Alleged El Salvadoran MS-13 Gang Member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.   The man was here illegally, which in itself should be enough to justify his deportation.  His M13 cohorts identified him as a high ranking gang member and yet SCOTUS ruled unanimously..... unanimously mind you......  he has to be returned!  What am I missing here?  First, these judges have absolutely no jurisdiction over the foreign nations to where these criminals have been deported. Secondly, just exactly how does SCOTUS think they can force the government to enact their decision? 

All of which becomes even more convoluted since now Mahmoud Khalil, who was a leading figure in antisemitic pro Hamas campus riots, and who adamantly hates America can be deported, and he's outraged at this "injustice".  Imagine that!   He lost even though he was defended by high priced lawyers who tried to shop this case to a friendly judge, but SCOTUS has ruled that can't be done now.  To quote Dan Rather:  "Questions remain".  Such as who funded those lawyers? 

For decades the judiciary has been taking more power than the founding fathers ever intended, or the Constitution allows, but now they’ve become out of control revolutionaries, and that has to be stopped, and stopped now. This is a window of opportunity, and it’s not taken advantage of that window may close and may never open again, along with ending all this vile lawfare activity, in which it seems abundantly clear, these judges are complicit in this corruption of the rule of law.  All of which is right out of the leftists playbook for the imposition of tyranny, and the goal of destroying individual rights in favor of absolute control of society practiced by Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and every tyrant that ever lived.   

• Anti-Trump lawfare: yes, it's a conspiracy - It seems certain federal district judges have no such powers.  Federal judges across the country are being cherry picked in a jurisdiction shopping scheme in furtherance of Democrat’s lawfare campaign against President Trump. Its goal is to use Democrat judges who can be relied upon to ignore the Constitution and the law in favor of imposing Democrat policy, subverting Trump’s legitimate Article II powers. In essence, district court judges are imposing their Democrat political preferences, appointing themselves president. In so doing, they’re preventing President Trump from exercising his Constitutional powers and enacting the will of the voters.

Read "Into the Whirlwind", chapter six of Tony Judt’s Postwar, A History of Europe since 1945, if you want to see just how vile and monstrous these lunatics can twist and warp the law, the prosecutors, and the courts. 

This week I have seven articles of my own, and twenty three other commentaries, and I've added a fifth permanent link regarding the national debt, and a sixth for wisdom's sake.  Last week my computer was in the shop so there was no P&D and The Week That Was.  I still wished to highlight the articles for that week and went back and posted an updated P&D for that week, with five articles of my own and seventeen by others, enjoy!

Have a great weekend, and best wishes to all persons of good will and honest heart. 

Rich 

My Commentaries

1. If It's Green, It's Not Gold
2. An Anchor in an Un-anchored World
3. America's “Fifth Column”
4. It's Time to Smell the Horsepucky
5. Truth Will Very Patiently Wait For Us
6. What Does It Mean To Be a Leftist?
7. Pathways and Stepping Stones

Commentaries

1. An Explosion of Green Lies By Alan Caruba
2. The Brumation of Barack Obama - Part 2 By Susan Daniels
3. The Big Reveal: Biden Was Even More Addled Than We Thought By Tim Donner
4. Critically Thinking about Stealing US Elections By John Droz, Jr.
5. My Way or the Highway: How Trump Makes World Leaders Play Ball By James Fite
6. My Way or the Highway: How Trump Makes World Leaders Play Ball By James Fite
7. Democrats and Republicans Were For Tariffs Before They Were Against Them. Or Vice Versa.  Daniel Greenfield
8. Sixth Wave Feminism Daniel Greenfield
9. Thirty Years Ago Israel Deported Hamas. The World Made Israel Take It Back Daniel Greenfield
10. Thousands of Scientists Contest the Climate Scare, Part II, By Tom Harris
11. Debunking the Climate Change Consensus – Part 1 By Tom Harris
12. Thought For the Week By Robin Itzler
13. Events From Around the Nation and the World By Robin Itzler
14. Rep. Luna Forgets She's on the GOP Team! By Robin Itzler
15. Lawfare, the Judiciary, and the Constitution By Robin Itzler
16. Political Extremism and the Brain By James Klar
17. Trump Hits the Pause Button on Reciprocal Tariffs By Andrew Maron
18. Will Tariffs Rekindle the Inflation Flame? By Andrew Maron
19. The 20th Theorem of Government and the Consequences of Fiscal Foolishness in the State of Washington Dan Mitchell
20. Brazil’s Reckless Fiscal Trajectory Dan Mitchell
21. Political Violence, Trump Assassination, Very Popular on the Left Graham J. Noble
22. Hegseth Making a Play for Panama Partnership By James Patterson
23. 2027 Is Approaching: China and the Impending Invasion of Taiwan By James Patterson

Permanent Links

1. 45 Communist Goals to Destroy America as Listed in the 1963 Congressional Record
2. My Seven Rules of Geopolitics
3. The John Boyd Legion of Honor
5. Former White House Advisor: “Trump to Release $150 Trillion Endowment”

 No matter what anyone says, you can’t marginalize the truth!  You can suppress it, you can ignore it, you can avoid it, you can attempt to undermine it, you can attempt to subvert it, you can attempt to organize against it, you can even laugh at it, but if we have the courage and the fortitude to stand and confront the lies, irrespective of the personal costs, the truth will stand the test of time, because truth and time are on the same side.

Constant as the North Star

The World as I See It!

By Rich Kozlovich 

One thing is clear, no President has ever moved faster, more definitively, or more successfully in his first week than has Trump, and has the entire left on their heels clueless what to do, other than claim everything he's doing is illegal and suing him.  That's been tried before, and that got him the Presidency.  As Kurt Schlichter says, Trump’s Winning Streak Is Totally Discombobulating The Democrats, saying:

Donald Trump has not only gotten inside their OODA Loop – observe, orient, decide, and act – but he’s taking their loop and is running around with it like one of those old-timey kids rolling a hoop with a stick. This is amazing. This is glorious. Summon a surgeon – it’s been a little over a week and you’re supposed to call the doctor after just four hours.......

Carole Hornsby Haynes asks if Trump knows what he's doing by going to war with the gender identity crowd saying:

Trump’s ban has triggered a meltdown from liberals, proclaiming the end of “our democracy” (we have a constitutional republic, not a democracy).  The real reason for their hissy fits is that they know they have lost control and have no idea how to regain it. There is more to the liberal rage.  The ban on gender ideology will likely collapse the vast financial empire spawned by the transgender movement in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), the pharmaceutical industry, and the medical “profession.”

Have you've ever wondered how this became such a big thing?  Well.... she follows the money making it clear these vermin are willing to destroy an untold number of children's lives for profit.   What's worse, they had the support of the Merritt Garland's Department of Justice  which was:

...... fiercely determined to support the surgical and chemical mutilation of children in the name of “gender affirming care.” Woe betide any who got in their way, like Dr. Eithan Haim, an honest man who had the misfortune to do part of his residency at Houston’s Texas Children’s Hospital.  ...............This enraged the DOJ, who immediately charged Haim with violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by releasing information about children still being abused by the hospital. 

It’s legal to disclose protected information to stop serious medical misconduct, but that was of no concern to the DOJ. It was quickly discovered that the information Haim provided fully redacted the names and other identifying information of the children. There was no way to know who the children or their parents were. He didn’t violate HIPAA. That didn’t matter to the DOJ...............Sane Americans would consider exposing physicians and others doing permanent harm to mentally confused kids a good and necessary thing, but not the Garland DOJ. As Americans have come to expect, there were further irregularities in the DOJ’s lunatic pursuit of Dr. Haim........

I so often hear the left declare we have to embrace some scheme or other because "it's for the children".  Hogwash, mostly what they promote is "to the children", and it's destroying civilization, and that's their goal.  John M. Grondelski's article, Democrats for Infanticide,  

Big Abortion plays word games because it knows that if the unvarnished truth was spoken, Americans would be revulsed by the whole sordid business.  The U.S. Senate took up S.6, the “Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act.” The vote was 52-47, a majority but not the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster. So, the bill failed.

The Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act required that if a baby is born alive during a third-trimester abortion (i.e., in months 6-9 of pregnancy), that baby should be provided medical care and allowed to live. Every Senate Democrat said “no.”

Abortion, especially in states that have “codified” Roe, allow third trimester abortions for any reason. Don’t let the propagandists say they are “rare” and sought only in medical distress. They occur and often occur for the same reasons abortions are procured at other stages of pregnancy: because the child interferes with the mother’s social or economic condition, not her life or the result of criminal assault.

 If a child is born alive it's an American citizen with Constitutionally "guaranteed" protection for life, liberty, pursuit of happiness...unless these vile Democrats and murdering leftist abortionist don't like that idea.  When they murder these live births someone needs to make it a criminal case, and drive it all the way to SCOTUS. 

This is a war, and the backbone of the left has been the media, but that's changing, and conservative publishing is making a comeback, and while this deals with books, that's true over the broad range of published material, especially the media, which is going through a metamorphosis from the old myrmidons of the left to new champions of "truth, justice, and the American way", just like Superman, at least the Superman of the 50's.  

The White House is taking control of the Press Briefing Room making changes that will be detrimental to the Pravda media now having received more than 7000 applications for "new media" seats.  Things are going to change. 

Do you think lawfare is done?  Think again, and it will take a massive effort by Trump's new Department of Justice to bring these miscreants under control, and hopefully some of them to prison.   

 Mike McDaniel asks, Will California succeed in secession?   He goes on to say say California is so delusional they think they can go it alone.  He then goes on to show just how stupid these nitwits are.  Well, I have an idea, how about this?  Let them secede, and take Oregon and Washington with them.  Then declare war on them, conquer them, turn them into territories with no Congressional representation, or the right to vote, and a Territorial Governor appointed by the President enforcing martial law.  Sounds like a winner to me, waddayathink?

Amy Wax and her lawsuit against Penn is back in the news, and Mike McDaniel says Penn's antisemitism is going to cost them.  I've followed and posted pieces about this from the beginning, and it was clear from the beginning Amy Wax was not a person to the trifled with. She won't give up, and she won't compromise, and Penn is in my opinion, like most of the big name universities, filled with academic sewer trout.  Here's my article on this, Amy Wax Is the Rock in the Current!

Much of this antisemitism is the result of so many Muslim students causing problems at these universities, and the money being thrown at the universities by rich Muslim nations.  Trump isn't going to allow this as Dershowitz says, "it's good to see Trump acting on these antisemites abusing their visas....they're not "entitled" to be here", and they have no "right" to be here.  

As for the deportation of illegal aliens destroying our economy, because there'll be no one to pick the berries, I gotta ask....Do they really believe that?  Well, that's an old failed argument, after all, if slaves were freed who would pick the cotton? 

Finally, France is going to send troops to Greenland, which is interesting since the French keep throwing out their governments on a monthly basis, and they've just been kicked out of all their former African colonies, so now they're going to declare war on the United States? And Denmark is going to defend against America with dog sleds.  Laughing rolling on the ground emoji here.

Posted by Rich Kozlovich at 8:11 AM No comments:

DNA researchers uncover secrets of Greenland’s ancient climate

By Bonner Cohen,  December 16th, 2022 Climate 41 Comments @ CFACT

We have long known that Norsemen settled Greenland just over a millennium ago, where for the next several hundred years they survived primarily by fishing and hunting in a much warmer climate than Greenland has today.

They called their new home Greenland because this giant island in the North Atlantic was, in fact, green. The warmer temperatures in Medieval times even enabled a form of subsistence agriculture to take root at much higher latitudes than would be possible today, and generations of hardy Norsemen in Greenland assumed things would stay that way. Alas, they were forced to abandon Greenland in the late 15^th century as a result of plummeting temperatures.

The Little Ice Age had come calling.

Today, Greenland’s over 833,000 square miles are home to slightly more than 56,000 people, who are heavily concentrated along the country’s southwestern coast. The northernmost tip of Greenland is an Arctic desert, where lichens and moss are about the only forms of life one will encounter. But it wasn’t always that way.

A Much Warmer World

In a study published Nov. 7 in Nature, researchers genetically mapped 2-million-year-old DNA from Arctic sediments. They discovered that today’s Arctic desert — where it’s so dry there isn’t enough moisture to create snow — was once home to over 100 plant genera, nine animal taxa, including the extinct elephant-like mastodon, and even marine life within the same region. All this was made possible by an ancient ecosystem that was 18 to 31 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than modern-day Greenland.

It took an international team of researchers 16 years to disentangle what is now the oldest DNA to be identified. As criminal investigators know, DNA doesn’t lie. “A team effort painstakingly matched every fragment with extensive libraries of DNA collected from present-day plants, animals, and organisms,” the Washington Post (Nov. 9) reported.

“Soon, a picture of the ancient forests, bays, flora, and fauna came into focus,” the Post continued. “Yet the results were also puzzling – many of the uncovered animals and plants didn’t seem to make ecological sense. Plants and animals that are typically found in the Arctic were in the same ecosystem as those found in the boreal forests farther south. One abundant plant genus was dryas, which is typically found in the Arctic. Yet the team also found poplars, deciduous trees usually found in boreal forests.”

“No one would have predicted this ecosystem in northern Greenland at this point in time,” said Eske Willerslev, a palaogeneticist at the University of Copenhagen, who led the study.

Additionally, the team of researchers found evidence of hares, rodents, geese, and lemmings – species that are almost completely absent from northernmost Greenland today. Pointing to the diverse community of species that were sharing a common area of northern Greenland 2 million years ago, Mathew Barnes, an ecologist at Texas Tech University, who did not participate in the research, told the Post in an email: “It’s a mishmash of species that ‘do’ and ‘don’t’ belong together based on our understanding of modern ecology.”

His comments show that Barnes understands that “our understanding of modern ecology” may have to undergo a reassessment. Things that we think are a given in the modern natural world were not so in ancient times. Species have a remarkable ability to adapt to their surrounding – far greater than much fashionable ecological dogma is willing to admit.

Furthermore, the warmer temperatures the researchers were able to confirm were quickly (in geological terms) followed by a succession of Ice Ages that came and went, greatly altering the face of the Earth. Today, we’re living in an interglacial period, which means we’re between the last Ice Age, which ended about 11,000 years ago, and the next one.

The next time you read or hear that we’re experiencing “unprecedented climate change,” have a good chuckle. These people don’t know what they’re talking about and probably never will.

Author

• Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

  Bonner R. Cohen, Ph. D., is a senior policy analyst with CFACT, where he focuses on natural resources, energy, property rights, and geopolitical developments. Articles by Dr. Cohen have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Investor’s Busines Daily, The New York Post, The Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, The Hill, The Epoch Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Miami Herald, and dozens of other newspapers around the country. He has been interviewed on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, NBC News, NPR, BBC, BBC Worldwide Television, N24 (German-language news network), and scores of radio stations in the U.S. and Canada. He has testified before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, and the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee. Dr. Cohen has addressed conferences in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Bangladesh. He has a B.A. from the University of Georgia and a Ph. D. – summa cum laude – from the University of Munich.