In case you’ve been in a sensory deprivation chamber, or hiding under a rock since last Friday, you may not have heard the news.  On April 5, at about 10:23 am, we had a magnitude 4.8 earthquake here in New Jersey.  Ever since that time, we have heard of little else (other than the April 8 solar eclipse, which has engendered almost as much hype and hysteria).  Now, I’m certainly not downplaying the potential damage that an earthquake may cause.  Major earthquakes can be devastating.  The 2010 7.0 earthquake in Haiti killed more than 300,000 people.  By far the place in the US which experiences the strongest earthquakes is Alaska, which lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire.  A 1964 9.2 quake there killed more than 100 people.  The 1906, 7.9, San Francisco quake was our most deadly, taking more than 3,000 lives.  Property damage can be extensive.  The 1989 Northern California 6.9 quake took down part of the Oakland Bay Bridge.  Then again, one wayward container ship just took down all of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and there was no earthquake.  But back to last Friday’s apocalyptic natural disaster.  The 4.8 quake, centered near White House Station, was the third strongest recorded NJ quake.  There was a 5.3 in Rockaway in 1783, and a 5.2 in Weehauken in 1737.  The problem I have with all the hype about this latest quake is that there’s never been even one fatality caused by an earthquake in New Jersey.  Even way back in 1783, when building standards didn’t exist, the most damage caused was that a few chimneys toppled over.  But I guess last Friday was a slow news day, because that’s all we’ve heard about ever since.  Sure, the shaking can be scary.  I learned of it from my daughters, who texted “did you feel that?”  We didn’t.  Although reports are that the quake was felt from Maine to Virginia, we were in Monmouth County and didn’t feel a thing.  And so far as I can tell, the only report of damage that’s been made is from Newark (New Jersey’s own Haiti), over 40 miles from the epicenter of the quake, where some residents reported that the quake caused their homes to shift and lean.  No offense, but I saw the houses on the news, and they looked like they began leaning when FDR was in the White House.  I guess if you don’t have a student loan to forgive, you have to find another way to get some federal money.  I get that earthquakes in New Jersey are pretty rare, so that may account for the hysteria.  But that being said, earthquakes aren’t rare.  In 2023, there were more than 500,000 earthquakes worldwide.  Most were minor magnitude quakes but there were 16,000 quakes over 4.0 magnitude, that’s better than 4 a day.  Why all the earthquakes?  Well, it’s not the reason given by a Green Party candidate for Senate here in New Jersey.  Kristina Amira Khalil, who based on her photo appears to be an amiable idiot, contributed this to the dumbing down of America, “I experienced my first earthquake in NJ.  We never get earthquakes.  The climate crisis is real.  The weirdest experience ever.”  And she wants to replace Robert Menendez in the Senate.  Then again, maybe she’s an upgrade.  For the record, climate change is not the cause of earthquakes, any more than it’s the reason we had a solar eclipse on April 8; and yes, I heard Leftist idiots propose that too.  Let’s take the second one first.  We have solar eclipses because, purely by chance, the Sun happens to be 400 times bigger than the Moon, and the Moon also happens to be 400 times further from the Sun than it is from the Earth.  The result is that, when the Moon and Sun pass before one another, from our perspective on the Earth, they appear to be the same size.  Earthquakes occur for another reason, which also has nothing to do with climate change.  I’ll make this simple enough for even a Senate candidate to understand.  The Earth has a molten iron center, which is under great pressure, and our landmasses lay on tectonic plates which are separated by cracks we call fault lines.  When the plates rub together mountains arise, and the sliding of plates and fault lines sometimes causes earthquakes, as the pressure is released.  This process has been ongoing for more than 4 billion years.  The process is driven by what’s under the Earth, and not by an atmosphere surrounding the Earth.  Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have been happening since the Earth was born, including for the billions of years before there was any life on Earth and before there was any CO2 or oxygen in the atmosphere.  Simply put, there were earthquakes before there was a climate.  Case closed.  So on the next rare occasion when we in New Jersey experience the Earth shake, rattle, and roll, don’t feel guilty about your carbon footprint.  It’s just Mother Earth showing us who’s the boss.