From Aunty to Iran, cli-fi to Zi-spy, truth is so tedious when you can subsidise fiction

Science is settled! Iranian news agency Tasnim, July 2:

(Iran’s Civil Defence Organisation head) Gholam Reza Jalali (said) Iranian scientific centres have confirmed … “Israel and one of the neighbouring countries make the clouds entering … Iran barren … we are faced with the cases of cloud theft and snow theft.”

Er, don’t ask the weatherman. Tom O’Connor, Newsweek, July 2:

The director general of the Weather Forecast … (at Iran’s) Meteorological Organisation, Ahad Vazife (said) “Perhaps they have documents in this regard and I’m not in the pipeline but based on meteorological information, there is no possibility that a country will steal snow or clouds” … (he said) if it was possible … the US would not be suffering its own water shortage … it would just steal … (water) from other countries in its vapour form.

Ask you-know-who! Jack Moore, Newsweek, December 4 last year:

(Former Iranian president Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad (said in 2012) “Today our country is moving towards drought, which is partly … as a result of the enemy destroying the clouds moving towards our country … world arrogance and colonisation …”

Zionist lizards! Michael Bachner, The Times of Israel, February 13:

Hassan Firuzabadi, senior military adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, (said) “Several years ago, some individuals came to Iran to collect aid for Palestine … (with) a variety of reptile … lizards, chameleons … We found out that their skin attracts atomic waves and that they were nuclear spies” … (but) Western spy agencies had “failed every time”.

Zionist Flipper! Staff, The Times of Israel, August 20, 2015:

The dolphin Hamas … caught spying for Israel was actually a “robot” (according to Iran’s) Fars news agency equipped with … “video-recording cameras” … small arrows and bullets … to target … Hamas special forces.

Secret squirrels! Mohamed Madi, BBC News, September 5, 2013:

In 2007 the Iranian army arrested … 14 “spy squirrels” … near a nuclear enrichment plant. Officials … succeeded in apprehending the suspects “before they were able to take any action”.

The Cli-fi phenomenon! Monique Ross and Julie Street, ABC online, yesterday:

Climate fiction novels catapult readers into a future ravaged by the catastrophic effects of global warming. Survival is a struggle amid dwindling food and water supplies, extreme weather and pandemics … The genre … dubbed “cli-fi” … has become a publishing phenomenon …

The Cli-fi subsidised phenomenon. Create NSW, media release, May 7:

Create NSW, ABC TV and production company Jungle Entertainment have … announced eight new screen projects selected for development under the banner of Cli-Fi, the emerging genre that deals with climate change and global warming.

Cli-fact. Pat Michaels and Ryan Maue, Wall Street Journal, June 21:

Thirty years of data have been collected since … (NASA scientist James) Hansen outlined (predictions for global warming) … (It shows) global surface temperature has not increased significantly since 2000 … And it isn’t just Mr Hansen who got it wrong … the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (models) have, on average, predicted about twice as much warming as has been observed … Have hurricanes gotten stronger … Have storms caused increasing amounts of damage … (are tornadoes) stronger … The list of what didn’t happen is long and tedious.