Decreasing tornadoes; Exponentially-increasing butterfly populations

DECREASING TORNADOES

In December 2018, USA Today said “2018 was an all-time record quiet year for tornadoes in the U.S.”

The article goes on to say “Tornadoes only killed 10 Americans in 2018, the fewest since unofficial records began in 1875 during the administration of President Ulysses S.”.

Did you notice how the headline mentions record-low tornado numbers, and then the opening sentence shifts the dialogue to tornado-related deaths? That’s an example of what is known in the propaganda trade as the “bait and switch”.

They also used the word “quiet” to dampen the impact that would have been created by the more direct “record low tornadoes”.

In July 2020, AccuWeather’s Lauren Fox said “June 2020 saw fewest tornadoes in nearly 70 years”.

The words “mystery”, “baffled” and “puzzled” are memes, used, among numerous similar variants, whenever anyone in the wholly-controlled-and-coopted Political, Academic, Scientific and Media establishments wants to lie about, well, basically anything. One of those many variants is “unusual”. That’s why the article goes on to say “After an unusually quiet May in terms of tornado activity across the United States mainland, June 2020 followed suit by hitting some record lows.”

There weren’t “some record lows”, there were record lows, period. The headline bravely hedges with “in nearly 70 years” to soften the blow of “in recorded history”, ergo “There were a total of six tornado watches issued across the U.S. last month, which the National Weather Service (NWS) said was the lowest number of tornado watches issued during the month of June in recorded history, beating last year’s total of eight, which was the previous record and, until this year, the only year that number did not reach double digits. Prior to last year, the low was 10 watches issued during June 1988, according to the NWS.”

BUTTERFLIES

The words “mystery”, “baffled” and “puzzled” are memes, used, among numerous similar variants, whenever anyone in the wholly-controlled-and-coopted Political, Academic, Scientific and Media establishments wants to lie about, well, basically anything. One of those many variants is the question mark.

That’s why a Nature article from January 2022 widened its eyes to simulate honesty and questioned: “Western monarch populations grew over 100-fold in 2021. Why?”

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(Monarch butterflies in California in 2021 - their numbers in California increased 150% from 2020 to 2021, from 2,000 to 250,000)

As an aside, I’ll note that the question mark is derived from the crook of Osiris.

One of those many variants is “remarkable”. That’s why author Alissa Greenberg goes on to say “The beloved butterflies had fallen to critical levels in recent years. Experts weigh in on what might be causing their remarkable return.”

The article continues: “On a brisk December day in Pacific Grove, California, 10,000 monarch butterflies hang in the crown of a Monterey pine. Where the branches cast shade, they huddle body-to-body in thick brown clusters, wings folded. But where the light touches, the boughs are bejeweled with splashes of orange. Warming monarchs flap languidly, some flitting among the trees or fluttering down to the ground. Whenever the sun shifts, the air is busy with wings.”

That’s a smoke-blowing paragraph filled with long words, to get you to stop reading.

The article goes on to say “Last year at this time, there were no monarchs here at all. In fact, there are five times more butterflies in this tiny park right now than were counted in all of California in 2020.”

In propaganda terms, Alissa has “walked it back” from “over 100-fold” in the headline to “five times more” down below. I want you to keep that five-fold increase firmly in mind as we continue.

The words “mystery”, “baffled” and “puzzled” are memes, used, among numerous similar variants, whenever anyone in the wholly-controlled-and-coopted Political, Academic, Scientific and Media establishments wants to lie about, well, basically anything. Two of those many variants are “unexpected” and “dramatic”. That’s why Ms. Greenberg goes on to say “Western monarch populations have declined precipitously since the 1990s, when 3 million to 10 million butterflies migrated annually from the northwestern United States to spend the winter at hundreds of sites along the California coast. Last year, less than 2,000 monarchs were counted in the entire state. Butterfly researchers despaired, since the number was well below the level theorized to lead to collapse and extinction. And they rejoiced when, unexpectedly, the species made a dramatic comeback last year.

The words “mystery”, “baffled” and “puzzled” are memes, used, among numerous similar variants, whenever anyone in the wholly-controlled-and-coopted Political, Academic, Scientific and Media establishments wants to lie about, well, basically anything. Two of those many variants are “magnificent” and the question mark. That’s why the article goes on to say “California’s Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation announced today that with the help of volunteers it counted nearly 250,000 butterflies in 2021, a more than hundredfold increase that society Senior Endangered Species Conservation Biologist Emma Pelton calls “magnificent.” But as Pelton and her colleagues celebrate the news, they’re also asking: Why?”

We’ve now learned that Nature’s Alissa Greenberg has grossly misled us with the “five-fold” statistic. Her hope is that some percentage of us will stop reading prior to getting to the “more than a hundredfold increase”.

2,000 to 250,000 is a 150% increase, which is about to tip over into heading for tripling. “More than hundredfold” is as far back as it can be hedged.