President Riley

"My head's made up. You can't confuse me with the facts." -- Chester A. Riley
"Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" -- Chico Marx
"Global warming is a hoax." -- Donald Trump

   Science documents what people already know.
   Growing up in Northern New Jersey, I remember ice skating on local ponds at this time of year. Folks can't do that anymore.
   I remember watching geese migrate as winter approached. That doesn't happen anymore.
   Mockingbirds were never seen north of Virginia. Now they're in New Jersey year 'round.
   Glaciers are disappearing.
   Polar bears raid villages for food because the ice cap is gone, and with it the seals that once rested on the floes.
  But there is no such thing as climate change, says the President-elect. It's a hoax, perpetrated by the Chinese, he insists. Any anyone who disagrees with him is either a liar or a fool.
   Say what?
   That sounds like the Pot-Kettle Syndrome brought to a new level.
   True believers "know" what they know. Science looks for evidence as to why something happens. Sometimes belief matches reality, but sometimes it does not.
   Copernicus published the idea in 1543 that the sun was the center of the universe, and the earth revolved around the sun. Galileo picked up that theory, but was threatened with excommunication because heliocentrism contradicted church doctrine. Eventually, most folks accepted what Copernicus taught.
   Even so, there remain some who still believe they are the center of the universe and everything and everybody is subordinate to their whims.
   It's time President Riley was taken by the scruff of the neck, metaphorically speaking, and forced to face reality.