Skip to main content
  • CNSNews.com
  • MRC TV
  • Biz & Media
  • Culture & Media
  • TimesWatch
  • Take Action!

Join Us @:
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Kindle

Free email alerts!

NewsBusters logo
May 23, 2013
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • About
  • Forum
  • Take Action
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Search
  • RSS

Hot Topics

  • Obama Targets Fox News
  • IRS Targets Tea Party
  • Censoring the News
Home » Blogs » Noel Sheppard's blog
  • NBC's Lauer Uses Oklahoma Tornado to Bash GOP Over Sandy Relief
  • New York Times: Obama Administration 'Threatening Fundamental Freedoms of the Press'
  • ABC’s Cokie Roberts Acknowledges Obama’s Contempt for the Press, Blasts 'Presidential Propaganda'
  • NYT Lawyer: Obama Worse Than Nixon, 'Worst President Ever' on Press Freedom
  • Chuck Todd: Obama Administration Wants to 'Criminalize Journalism'
  • Al Hunt On Rosen Outrage: Obama 'No Better Than Nixon'; Holder Should Take Hike
  • Bozell Column: Obama And 'Overreach'
  • Three Labor Unions, Including Teamsters, Want ObamaCare Repealed; When Will Media Report?

Soros-Funded Propaganda Machine Think Progress Falsely Claims Global Warming Melted Street Lights in Oklahoma

By Noel Sheppard | August 02, 2012 | 18:11

A  A
Noel Sheppard's picture

So eager are the shills at the George Soros-funded far-left website Think Progress to find evidence of global warming that on Thursday they falsely blamed melting street lights in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on the heat.

As originally reported by TP's Stephen Lacey:

Here’s a picture from Stillwater, Oklahoma, where temperatures will reach has high as 115 degrees today. The photo comes from Patrick Hunter, who sent the picture to KFOR-TV. [...]

Even as residents swelter in the relentless heat, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe continued his tirade about man-made global warming during a Senate hearing yesterday, saying the science had “collapsed.”

It appears the only thing collapsing are the street lights.

That was in an article published Thursday hysterically titled "In Oklahoma, It’s So Hot The Street Lights Are Melting."

If you go to that link now, you'll find a completely different story with the headline "UPDATE: In Oklahoma City, It’s So Hot And Dry There’s Mandatory Water Rationing."

Way down at the bottom is this:

UPDATE: After we published this piece, we saw reports from people on the ground in Stillwater that the melting streetlights were due to a nearby fire. The person who took the photo, Patrick Hunter, described the scene: “Being the person that actually took this photo, I’d say that this was due to a fire semi-close by coupled with the unbelievable heat we are experiencing. Still an amazing photo and not fake as many are saying on here. Enjoy!”

They are some fine journalists at that Soros-funded propaganda outlet, aren't they?

Unfortunately, as so often happens with the garbage at TP, it makes its way to other left-wing publications.

Buzzfeed's Matt Stopera bought this nonsense hook, line, and sinker writing his own piece "It's So Hot In Oklahoma That Street Lights Are Melting." Gawker fell for it, too. So did Yahoo!.

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

Senator Inhofe's office issued the following statement:

Today the far-left blog Think Progress posted a photo (originally posted on KFOR's facebook page) of street lights in Oklahoma that had melted, they claimed, because of extreme heat. Global warming alarmist Bill McKibben took to Twitter immediately to publicize what he believed to be proof of global warming, tweeting to Senator James Inhofe (Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, "Senator Inhofe, God may be trying to get your attention. Check out this picture."

Not long after the picture surfaced, Oklahomans posted comments on Think Progress' blog saying that these lights had melted due to a fire - which makes sense considering that the two front lights were melted while the two back lights remained unscathed.

Inhofe's office provided a picture of the fire:

"Poor Bill McKibben - he's been trying to get something to melt for ages but it keeps backfiring," Senator Inhofe said. "These alarmists never learn their lesson. Remember Bill McKibben was the one who was going to melt a giant ice sculpture in the shape of the word ‘hoax' on the national mall, but his group had to cancel because there wasn't enough interest. Now, after proclaiming that street lights in Oklahoma are melting because of global warming, we have confirmation that a fire caused this scene.

Pretty pathetic!

Anthony Watts observed:

I wonder if it ever occurred to these guys to check to see how many streetlights melt in Phoenix (or Riyadh and Baghdad) each year where the temperature routinely reaches 115°F and as high as 122°F ? Or why only two globes melted on one side?

Watts later identified that these globes are made of high density polyethelene with a melting point of 266 degrees.

Why should we expect a far-left propaganda machine to do research that might impede its agenda?

Soros must be pleased with the bang he's getting for his buck.

About the Author

Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Click here to follow Noel Sheppard on Twitter.
  • Global Warming
  • Environment
  • George Soros
  • James Inhofe
  • ThinkProgress
  • Noel Sheppard's blog
  • Printer-friendly version
Stop Censoring The Gosnell Trial!
Stop Censoring The Gosnell Trial!

Editors' Picks

  • Deputy kills PBS NewsHour staffer (Washington Examiner)
  • Oklahoma disaster was tragic, but larger ones have occurred (USA Today)
  • Mainstream Media Scream: Today’s Savannah Guthrie questions GOP ‘overreach’ (Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner)
  • Desperate Carney complains asking about scandals like asking about birth certificate (RCP)
  • Look at NYT's partisan-hack rewrite of the IRS hearing (Draw and STRIKE!)
  • Study: Christians who tithe have better finances than those who don't (TGC)
  • The media are willing accomplices to Obama (PolitiChicks)
  • FBI has suspects in mind in Benghazi; Obama prefers to try them in court (AP)
Chuck Norris's picture
Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris Column: Why Tim Tebow Is an Ultimate Clutch Player
Walter E. Williams's picture
Walter E. Williams
Walter E. Williams Column: Hating America
Michelle Malkin's picture
Michelle Malkin
Malkin Column: Obama's Emptiest Benghazi Talking Point
Ann Coulter's picture
Ann Coulter
Coulter Column: Sorry, Sen. Rubio, But Your Immigration Plan Is Still Problematic
David Limbaugh's picture
David Limbaugh
David Limbaugh Column: Partisan Obama Culture Spawned a More Abusive IRS
More >

RSS FeedAmazon KindleFacebookTwitter

Stop Censoring The News!

Gosnell's Just the Tip of the Iceberg
more cartoons
  • IRS Charged With Unfair Scrutiny of Pro-Life Groups' Prayer Events, Protest Signs
  • Ex-AccuWeather's Bastardi Slams 'Ambulance Chasing' by Global Warming Theory Activists
  • Howard Dean Dismisses Benghazi Scandal as ‘Laughable Joke’
  • Letterman: 'Obama's in So Much Trouble Politically He's Thinking of Killing Bin Laden Again'
  • NYT Gets Sen. Cruz's Opposition to Marketplace Fairness Act Dead Wrong
More >
NewsBusters

Executive Editor
Matthew Sheffield

Editor at Large
Brent Baker

Senior Editors
Tim Graham
Rich Noyes

Managing Editor
Ken Shepherd

Associate Editor
Noel Sheppard

Contributing Editors
Tom Blumer
Geoffrey Dickens
Dan Gainor
David Limbaugh
Mithridate Ombud
Clay Waters
Scott Whitlock

Senior Contributor
Mark Finkelstein

Contributing Writers
Matthew Balan
Michael M. Bates
Erin R. Brown
Jack Coleman
Kyle Drennen
Douglas Ernst
P. J. Gladnick
Stephen Gutowski
Matt Hadro
D. S. Hube
Kathleen McKinley
Dave Pierre
Amy Ridenour
Julia A. Seymour
Terry Trippany
Rusty Weiss
Brad Wilmouth

Publisher
Brent Bozell

Site Design
Dialog New Media

 

  • Home
  • Blogs
  • About
  • Forum
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Search
  • Account
  • rss
  • CNSNews
  • MRC TV
  • Biz & Media
  • Culture & Media
  • Take Action!
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Amazon Kindle
  • Advertise
  • Jobs

Copyright © 2005-2013 NewsBusters.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use