The Republican party is expanding their brief further and further into the looney demand. They’re legislating against a nonexistent phenomenon: chemtrails. They’re just condensing vapor from jet engine exhaust, people!
SB 2691, sponsored by Sen. Steve Southerland (R-Morristown), never specifically mentions the dubious claims made by conspiracy theorists about the dangers of so-called “chemtrails,” however, when speaking about the bill, Southerland directly mentioned “chemtrails.”
“If you look at a thousand planes, you won’t see one (chemtrail). But then all of a sudden you see one,” Southerland told the Tennessee Lookout. “So we’re just asking the question: Are they putting anything in the air that could be toxic?”
The “chemtrails” conspiracy theory is the belief that condensation trails or vapor trails left in the sky from aircraft flying at high altitudes are actually some form of chemical or biological agents, which are being purposely released into the atmosphere for nefarious purposes including weather modification, phycological operations, or even population control.
I’ve heard this chemtrail nonsense for as many years as I’ve been on the internet, but now 6 states are proposing legislation to stop the laws of physics which cause hot gases from cold air at low pressure. These are now entirely backed by Republican party apparatchiks, where once upon a time there were plenty of people on the looney left who would babble about chemtrails. Give ’em time, they’ll take on every science-based policy we’ve got.
The language in these bills appears to based on model legislation created and promoted by fringe conspiracy theorists, and connected to group which operates a website that claims to advocate for “shutting down pollution-generating atmospheric modification schemes”: Zero Geoengineering.
In addition to promoting conspiracy theories about “chemtrails,” the group operates a network of connected websites that promote conspiracy theories about 5G networks and WIFI, food and other products produced using genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
You know, if you’re concerned about people injecting bizarre chemicals into the environment, you’d be better off tackling fracking. That’s a real witch’s brew of toxic nastiness being injected into our water table. But of course, fracking is backed by industrialists, there’s real money there.
It’s actually perfectly logical if you work it out:
Conspiracy theorists claim chemtrails are dangerous and the practice must stop immediately!
Every in aviation and public works and CIA and military knows that they are not spraying anything causing these “chemtrails”.
They try to explain that and the theorist does not listen.
So to shut them up, government tries this new tactic…BANNING the practice and making it illegal per-emptively.
Government knows they are not doing chemtrails and have no intention of it (there are more efficient and safer and simpler ways to drug a population)
Therefore government knows that the total effect of this ban is nothing…no cost to them and absolutely no risk. Similar effect as banning telepathy or reincarnation to them. There’s simply nothing to do once the bill is passed!
Conspiracy theorists are satisfied as they “finally got the government to act on this dangerous practice” (that was never occurring) so they go home.
Theorist is satisfied action has been taken, government shuts them up with absolutely no effort expended…everyone wins except the time wasted on this in the first place.
See? Perfectly logical even though it sounds silly…
Cannot believe chemtrails are back, thought they faded away into obscurity. But, you know, the Republicans have solved world hunger and brought an end to all wars, that leaves only minor inconvenient challenges for them to tackle.
But if they ban chemtrails, what else will turn the freaking frogs gay…?
Strangely enough, he is right here.
The main pollutant in jet engine exhaust is…CO2.
The Greenhouse gas. The one that is causing global warming.
Jet engine exhaust also contains nitrogen oxides, carbon soot, and traces of unburned jet fuel.
It’s not much different from what comes out of your gasoline car’s tailpipe.
Sen. Steve Southerland isn’t going to care about those pollutants though.
In his wacko world, known carcinogens aren’t a problem as long as they are derived from petroleum and greenhouse gases and global warming don’t exist.
I have mixed feelings. By wasting time on this they aren’t outlawing vaccines, to name but one example of the damage they could do.
It’s cute in a demented way.
Because of course, even if they manage to pass this particular passel of shit, contrails are still going to form.
What are they going to do then? Will they try to shoot them down? That ‘s the standard solution I believe.
Unless they put a plaster on it by declaring them “good” trails, and bragging that the bad ones have been scared away forever. Let’s stay tuned…
He left out HAARP.
HAARP can do almost everything.
HAARP is a weather modification and mind control program run by the globalists.
The Crank Magnetism sure is kicking in with the Repugs hey?
Off topic, but loosely connected. The Republicans have also introduced a bill to rename Dulles airport after Trump. The intricacies of their thought process are, never mind, their thought processes are not intricate.
I have a few ideas about reducing these dangerous chemtrails. For example investing in a good rail infrastructure to reduce the need for intercontinental flights, tax the hell out of private jets etc.
This will noticeably reduce the number of contrails… I mean chemtrails you see in the sky!
@mamba (#1):
Yes, but even if we grant that the plan works and gets folks to calm down (which I doubt), this tactic encourages the behavior of the tinfoil hat crowd, and those who might be on the fence about emulating them. That’s a problem. And I have to imagine that those who would not be quelled by evidence that chemtrails do not exist would be quelled by reassurances that the government made the practice illegal; after all, entities (like the government itself) and people do illegal stuff all the time.
Can’t these goons just go and look at an aeroplane to check for massive tanks of brain poison? You know, do some investigating to back up their preposterous claims? Or, do they actually, really know that it’s completely made up and there is nothing to be found?
HAARP, chemtrails, kill shot/clot shot vaccines, Agenda 21, Agenda 2030, plandemic, FEMA concentration camps, NWO, CFR, UFO/UAP coverups, QAnon, “Stop the Steal”, fluoridation of the water supply….
It’s all becoming mainstreamed by the MAGA Republican base and has been seeping into legislative politics all over the country for years already. The national GOP may actually be catching a break this campaign season when Trump decides (again) there’s no need to public a GOP Party Platform since it would be chock full of batshit insane conspiracy theory, nonsense.
raven @ #4 — I agree. The real concern is the pollutants, not the government putting meth in our air. I have wondered if the conspiracy behind the chemtrail conspiracy isn’t to distract from the very real concern of aviation pollution. And it’s not just the “toxics”, CO2 and so forth. Most of that exhaust is water vapor, just like automobiles, which is what you see under some conditions. I recall reading years ago concerns about the potential ill effects of distributing that much water vapor at those altitudes, I believe the concern was about surface or atmospheric temperatures.
But I also agree that the “chemtrail” wackos will not be concerned about the actual pollutants. I had a professional colleague who went off about chemtrails to me one morning. I was shocked to say the least. And, they were not interested in thinking about the very real problem of aviation exhaust pollutants when I suggested that as a legitimate concern and that what you see is only a fraction of the problem.
mamba@1– ‘Theorist is satisfied action has been taken…’ That there is the flaw in the argument.
Remember when thimerosal in vaccines was meant to be causing autism? Well, the FDA responded to the perpetual misinformation campaign by removing thimerosal from vaccines as of 2001, figuring that the reduction in shelf life would be compensated by placating anti-vaxxers. Did it placate anti-vaxxers? It did not. The anti-vaxxers argued simultaneously I might add that removing thimerosal proved that they were right all along about how dangerous it was and that vaccines were still just as dangerous without it.
Knowing that you will never make these people happy, it might wake them up when all flights are routed away from their states airspace and they start to find their airports empty when they try to fly somewhere. Turn those international airports into municipal parking lots and see if the lost revenue wakes them up.
Meanwhile, the same people think that the upcoming solar eclipse will usher in the endtimes and that we need to invade Haiti because it’s infested with Voodoo demons. How did a civilization that put humans on the moon, split the atom, and decoded the genome sink to this level?
Because we let them be knuckle-draggers in the name of “freedom” instead of insisting they be educated, socialized members of the human species. Now, we’re surrounded by feral animals who believe nothing but bullshit.
@17 Akira MacKenzie
How did a civilization that put humans on the moon, split the atom, and decoded the genome sink to this level?
Yeah, says you! I didn’t see any of that stuff happen personally. You might think I’m the crazy one. But yeah, crazy like a rabid fox, that is!
And the dumbest thing about it is, they only think this because it’s happening across America. If the eclipse was traversing Central Africa or Australia, they wouldn’t give it a second thought.
Well, according to what I’ve read, commercial air travel is responsible for about 3% of the CO2 emissions out there. Rich peoiple and their private planes are responsible for a lot more, like, 10%. I don’t know how much N2O jet fuel emits (I’m betting it’s a lot), but I did read that N2O is responsible for about 6% of global warming. And now I have more scientific papers to look up and find out.
#15 @ chrislawson
Perhaps the USofA will stop flying so many thimerosal warplanes in the sky? :) I rarely see a commercial jet making these trails. The direction and height of these is predictable from where I live as they go from one military base to another. Our military’s pilots must follow orders after all.
#13, Tacitus wrote,
“… We didn’t start the fire….”
I swear, there is a Billy Joel conspiracy song in there somewhere.
Photos of German flak positions in Berlin during WWII shows the many contrails left in the sky by B-27 and B-24 formations as they flew over Berlin at 30,000 feet. At that altitude the water from the exhaust naturally condensed immediately.
I live in flyover country and rarely see any military planes, but when the conditions are right, see plenty of contrails.
PZ Myers @ #24 — That’s no out for the true believers. I asked my chemtrail friend about that 15 years ago, and they said of course they wouldn’t use military aircraft but aircraft that appear to be civilian aviation.
@12: Unfortunately, pictures of (what the loons will interpret as) that actually exist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory#Interpretation_of_evidence.
Chemtrails are made of dihydrogen monoxide, a chemical that kills over 300,000 people worldwide every year. Tennessee should make possession of dihydrogen monoxide a felony and prohibit it in Tennessee.
I live near the small airport that is used by private jet owners when they come and go to events in Pebble Beach.
I often see their contrails in the sky above my patio. When the conditions are right for there to be many of them visible it’s inevitable that many of the local kooks will be posting pictures and getting upset about them.
I read their posts just for the laughs.
Since I’ve spent most of my married life living on or next to military installations, I’m dismayed that these people get so worked up about something so commonplace.
The ironic thing is contrails are more visible today because jets have gotten more fuel efficient; most of what is in a contrail is water vapor nowadays.
but somehow they believe this bs that tens of thousands of commercial aircraft, being serviced by hundreds of thousands of maintenance workers throughout the world, loading huge volumes of chemicals into entirely separate tank system on these aircraft, and in all these years not a single person has revealed ‘the truth’ . Hell you can buy old airliners relatively cheap and tear them apart yourself to find the evidence of this stuff, and not a single person has ever documented this nefarious system.
Dang. They’ve discovered our phycological operations. Operation Seaweed is in danger of being discovered.
asclepias: I’m not sure what you’ve read but the IPCC doesn’t break aviation down into commercial versus private. It amounts to a single-digit percent of the greenhouse forcing by human activities. They include the effect of contrails.
Private aviation is much smaller, not larger, than commercial aviation. Look at a line of aircraft waiting to take off, it’s mostly big jets with company livery. There’ll be the occasional business jet snuck in there, which notably are also much smaller (thus, burn a lot less fuel). Commercial jets are far more efficient per passenger, there’s just a lot more commercial flights going on.
It seems like the solution is just to ban airplanes. And probably cars too.