[pepperonikkid]

Trump Fired Science This Week



https://spectator.org
JON CASSIDY
May 12, 2017, 12:04 am



Article:


Somewhere in the wilds of Utah, there’s a scientist making thermal infrared images of rivers, and turning them into exhibits for a museum. Your tax dollars are involved, of course, but trust that somebody’s awareness is being raised.

Some of her colleagues at a science thing called iUTAH have more empirical pursuits. They recently did a water use survey and discovered that large majorities of Utah residents care about preventing brown spots on their lawns.

That’s an official scientific fact, and there’s more where that came from.

So why did President Trump go and fire Science this week?

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Board of Scientific Counselors has been decimated. Will we ever learn what lawncare is like in Idaho? Or Montana?

Yet the EPA must stumble forward, with nobody to advise it on lawns, or “the integration of social dynamics in multi-scalar assessments of environmental problems,” which is almost certainly something it ought to do.

At the EPA, there will be no voice representing the perspective of maize and legume croppers in Malawi.

The New York Times and Washington Post were all over the story, and got Salon and GQ screeching.

Quote

“This is completely part of a multifaceted effort to get science out of the way of a deregulation agenda,” Ken Kimmell, the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, was quoted saying in all the stories. “What seems to be premature removals of members of this Board of Science Counselors when the board has come out in favor of the EPA strengthening its climate science, plus the severe cuts to research and development — you have to see all these things as interconnected.”

Yes, of course. We all know that Republicans love their polluting cronies almost as much as they hate facts. That’s obviously why EPA administrator Scott Pruitt decided to replace half the board (according to the Post), or maybe just five of the 18 members (sayeth the Times), instead of inviting them back for a second term.

We were so close. Under President Obama, the EPA located and appointed a professor who promised “place-based insights, woven with theories and observations from social and biophysical science,” about water in Utah, which provide what we’ve all been longing for — yes, “a transdisciplinary basis for collective understanding and taking action to mitigate risks and threats and enhance value in lived experiences.”

Now, your experiences, lived and otherwise, shall remain unenhanced, naked to the unmitigated threat of your solitary mind, whose unwoven thoughts have no basis in transdisciplinary place-based… help, somebody! I can’t get this sentence to stop!

Full Story

[ThePatriot]

"Now, your experiences, lived and otherwise, shall remain unenhanced, naked to the unmitigated threat of your solitary mind, whose unwoven thoughts have no basis in transdisciplinary place-based… help, somebody! I can’t get this sentence to stop!"

That has me chuckling out loud! :lol:

[MontyPython]

ThePatriot, on 14 May 2017 - 07:00 PM, said:

"Now, your experiences, lived and otherwise, shall remain unenhanced, naked to the unmitigated threat of your solitary mind, whose unwoven thoughts have no basis in transdisciplinary place-based… help, somebody! I can’t get this sentence to stop!"

That has me chuckling out loud! :lol:

Me too, LOL.

And "Union of Concerned Scientists"? Sounds like something right outta Monty Python, LOL.

The rest of the article is worth reading too.

:yes:

[Big Dave]

ThePatriot, on 14 May 2017 - 07:00 PM, said:

"Now, your experiences, lived and otherwise, shall remain unenhanced, naked to the unmitigated threat of your solitary mind, whose unwoven thoughts have no basis in transdisciplinary place-based… help, somebody! I can’t get this sentence to stop!"

That has me chuckling out loud! :lol:

:thumbsup:

[Joe the Pagan]

This reminds me of something that happened years ago. When the Democrats took over the house they started program using biodegradable utensils in the house cafeterias. The program was a horrible mistake. It took multiple soup spoons to finish a bowl of soup. The spoons kept melting. The utensils had to be chopped up and sent to a special landfill. So they cost more than the plastic utensils. When the Republicans took over the house they did not renew this costly mistake. The headlines all read that the evil Republicans were getting rid of wonderful green program.

[Howsithangin]

pepperonikkid, on 14 May 2017 - 06:00 PM, said:

Trump Fired Science This Week

The wailing and gnashing of teeth I'm hearing from some people in my field, especially the regulators, and PARTICULARLY the Federal types, is something to behold. I simply avoid the conversation, be it in person, phone or social media.

Way, way too many "scientists", who (one would think) are supposed to check and double-check their data before drawing conclusions (exception: climate data) have leapt upon the Trump Kills Science meme with both feet. I find them simply parroting the talking points without engaging the brain. And the moment I attempt to explain that all is not lost, that we're not back in Flat-Earth Territory here, they get all defensive and point to me stuttering: "But...but...you're a scientist, how CAN you support this!?!". Talk about sacred cows!

I find myself in the awkward position of being considered a turncoat to my own profession by many, a pariah no longer included in lunchtable discussions of larger-scale technical subjects.

What a world we live in today.

[Howsithangin]

MontyPython, on 14 May 2017 - 08:29 PM, said:

And "Union of Concerned Scientists"? Sounds like something right outta Monty Python, LOL.

Try attending one of their meetings. It's like AA. Or a school board. The drinks help, though.

[MontyPython]

Howsithangin, on 14 May 2017 - 11:56 PM, said:

Try attending one of their meetings. It's like AA. Or a school board. The drinks help, though.

Drinks at an AA meeting?

(Just kidding, LOL. I understood what you meant.)

;)

[Currahee!]

MontyPython, on 14 May 2017 - 08:29 PM, said:

Me too, LOL.

And "Union of Concerned Scientists"? Sounds like something right outta Monty Python, LOL.

The rest of the article is worth reading too.

:yes:

Which is part of the Ministry of Silly-walks.

[MontyPython]

Currahee!, on 15 May 2017 - 10:07 AM, said:

Which is part of the Ministry of Silly-walks.

Exactly.

Weren't they associated with the "Royal Society For Putting Things On Top Of Other Things"?

:yes:

[PoliticallyUnstable]

Joe the Pagan, on 14 May 2017 - 10:14 PM, said:

This reminds me of something that happened years ago. When the Democrats took over the house they started program using biodegradable utensils in the house cafeterias. The program was a horrible mistake. It took multiple soup spoons to finish a bowl of soup. The spoons kept melting. The utensils had to be chopped up and sent to a special landfill. So they cost more than the plastic utensils. When the Republicans took over the house they did not renew this costly mistake. The headlines all read that the evil Republicans were getting rid of wonderful green program.

Interesting anecdote. If you visit a House, Senate, Library of Congress, or Smithsonian cafeteria today you will find biodegradable utensils that don't melt. Because science progresses.

So while you might find thermal imaging of rivers or brown spots on lawns uninteresting, don't be so sure that they're a waste of taxpayer dollars. The list of technologies that have been developed because of government support for science is quite substantial. Government support is even more critical to basic science research. The ROI on a very small government expenditure is tremendous.

[Severian]

MontyPython, on 15 May 2017 - 11:07 AM, said:

Exactly.

Weren't they associated with the "Royal Society For Putting Things On Top Of Other Things"?

:yes:

"Anyone speak Swahili?"

"Yes, most of them there do I think."

"I meant on the team."

"What, no!"

[Specs]

PoliticallyUnstable, on 15 May 2017 - 12:29 PM, said:

Interesting anecdote. If you visit a House, Senate, Library of Congress, or Smithsonian cafeteria today you will find biodegradable utensils that don't melt. Because science progresses.

So while you might find thermal imaging of rivers or brown spots on lawns uninteresting, don't be so sure that they're a waste of taxpayer dollars. The list of technologies that have been developed because of government support for science is quite substantial. Government support is even more critical to basic science research. The ROI on a very small government expenditure is tremendous.

Yes. Support for Science, not faith based initiatives like man-made climate change.

[MontyPython]

Severian, on 15 May 2017 - 12:33 PM, said:

"Anyone speak Swahili?"

"Yes, most of them there do I think."

"I meant on the team."

"What, no!"

LOL!

One of their truly inspired sketches, IMO.

:yes:

[Howsithangin]

Specs, on 15 May 2017 - 04:53 PM, said:

Yes. Support for Science, not faith based initiatives like man-made climate change.

:yeahthat:

[Natural Selection]

Howsithangin, on 14 May 2017 - 11:55 PM, said:

The wailing and gnashing of teeth I'm hearing from some people in my field, especially the regulators, and PARTICULARLY the Federal types, is something to behold. I simply avoid the conversation, be it in person, phone or social media.

Way, way too many "scientists", who (one would think) are supposed to check and double-check their data before drawing conclusions (exception: climate data) have leapt upon the Trump Kills Science meme with both feet. I find them simply parroting the talking points without engaging the brain. And the moment I attempt to explain that all is not lost, that we're not back in Flat-Earth Territory here, they get all defensive and point to me stuttering: "But...but...you're a scientist, how CAN you support this!?!". Talk about sacred cows!

I find myself in the awkward position of being considered a turncoat to my own profession by many, a pariah no longer included in lunchtable discussions of larger-scale technical subjects.

What a world we live in today.

A high school classmate of mine worked at the EPA's Chicago office until Trump won. She couldn't handle the reality of Trump in the White House so she moved to Colorado...presumably to smoke weed until "they" are back in charge.