Jon Reisman

My Policy Ronin column on political samurai without masters elicited a number of responses. Two readers sent uniform/wardrobe suggestions. The armored chain mail option would probably protect me from lefty lances, but I am skeptical it would be allowed through the security checkpoints in Augusta. The less martial masked alternative is clearly the post-Covid cosplay of choice.

My Ronin reflections and remarks on climate change policy continue. At the macro high-altitude level, I am working on a paper with a fellow retired professor that questions the whole postulated causal link between CO2 and climate change/global warming. My engineer co-author is convinced our models and understanding are deeply flawed. I am convinced that basing policy on deeply flawed models with poor predictive validity is a recipe for disaster, albeit one the climate alarmists and Democrats apparently desperately want to experience.

At a lower-altitude policy implementation level, a number of upcoming meetings in Coastal Washington County will preview how the Mills administration and climate alarmists plan to spend federal and state tax dollars to boost working waterfront infrastructure resilience. The meeting schedule:

• Roque Bluffs/Machias/Machiasport/Whiting/Cutler/Trescott/Eastport/Lubec (Dec. 10, 5-7 p.m., Washington Academy, 66 Cutler Road, East Machias)

• Jonesport/Addison/Beals (Dec. 12, 5-7 p.m., Peabody Library, 162 Main St., Jonesport)

• Milbridge/Steuben/Harrington (Dec. 16, 5-7 p.m., 49 Smithville Road, Steuben Fire Hall, Steuben)

Governor Mills, Director Pingree, and the climate alarmists are attempting to link bad weather (as opposed to climate change) to greenhouse gas emissions. The supposedly unbiased experts at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have found that high precipitation events are more likely, but there is no link to increased frequency/intensity of winter storms. Last December and January’s winter storms have been the primary focus of Maine climate alarmist arguments and policy prescriptions. From my perspective, Attorney General Frey is looking in the wrong direction to discover and expose climate change policy fraud and misinformation. In my opinion, the evil fossil fuel companies are not the problem, the climate cultists and their Democrat co-conspirators are.

I plan on attending the climate alarmist cabal at Washington Academy on the 10. The carbon footprint of traveling the 16 miles to East Machias is smaller than that of traveling to Jonesport or Steuben, so I will do my part for the planet. I hope that sanity and comity will prevail, and I will not have to spend the night in the Washington County Jail.

Jon Reisman is an economist and policy analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38 years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Selectman and a Statler and Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own, and he welcomes comments as letters to the editor here or to him directly via email at [email protected].