Donald Trump in an interview with The Washington Post on Wednesday said he was already planning to run for reelection in 2020 and had his slogan ready to go: “Keep America Great.”
“Are you ready?” Trump asked the Post. “‘Keep America Great,’ exclamation point. Get me my lawyer!” In a recording accompanying the story, the president-elect can then be heard talking to someone in his office, telling them to trademark the new slogan.
Obviously, it is a continuation of the 2016 slogan, “Make America Great Again,” but where have we heard that new one before…? Oh, yeah, a horror film
Month: January 2017
The Weekend Wonk: Trump War on Science Sparks Backlash
The events of the past week have been worrying to advocates of government action on climate change, with the removal of climate priorities from the White House website, the order to freeze all Environmental Protection Agency contracts and the inauguration of a president who said he is “not a big believer” in the fact that humans have played a role in changing Earth’s climate.
But these events have also been very good for website traffic.
According to data from analytics.usa.gov, which tracks Web traffic on all .gov websites, several pages related to climate change have been extremely popular in the week since President Trump’s inauguration.
As of Friday morning, a National Park Service report about the agency’s “Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategy” was the most downloaded document from a government website. Thousands more people wanted to download that document than those who downloaded the form to apply for passport renewal or any of the Internal Revenue Service documents required to file tax returns.
Continue reading “The Weekend Wonk: Trump War on Science Sparks Backlash”
AGU: Protect Data, Integrity
AGU Sends Letter to Federal Agencies Urging Protection of Scientific Integrity and Open Communication of Scientific Information
The American Geophysical Union expresses concern for scientific integrity and free communication of scientific information to the public at federal agencies
WASHINGTON, DC – The American Geophysical Union (AGU) wrote to federal agency heads on January 26, expressing concern over recent reports about violations of scientific integrity and interference with public access to and communication of scientific information.
In the letter AGU emphasized scientific integrity and transparency as critical to “advancing national security, a strong economy, public health, and food security.” AGU calls on the agencies, and the administration, to reverse policies that threaten scientific integrity and open communication as soon as possible and urges that they not be reinstated.
“Access to scientific information improves and informs many aspects of our everyday lives,” said Chris McEntee, AGU’s Executive Director and CEO. “AGU will be monitoring to see if the policies have been lifted and whether the scientific information that is currently available remains. It is critical to our economic success, national security and public health that the American people continue to receive to the most up-to-date scientific research and information.”
The letter was sent to the following agencies and institutions:
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Energy
- Department of the Interior
- Department of State
- Environmental Protection Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- National Park Service
- National Science Foundation
- United States Geological Survey
AGU has a position statement related to scientific integrity entitled, “AGU Supports Free and Open Communication of Scientific Findings.” The statement was adopted in 2011 and reaffirmed in September 2016.
In late 2016, AGU launched a petition calling on the new Administration to make the appointment of a scientific advisor a top priority. The petition currently has nearly 9,000 signatures.
The American Geophysical Unionis dedicated to advancing the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity through its scholarly publications, conferences, and outreach programs. AGU is a not-for-profit, professional, scientific organization representing 60,000 members in 137 countries. Join the conversation onFacebook, Twitter, YouTube, and our other social media channels.
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's site is taken down. https://t.co/H6eHJzxhUn@500womensci @coralsncaves @Tessa_M_Hill
— Dr. Aradhna Tripati 🏳️🌈 🦋 🐝 (she/hers) (@ClumpedIsotopes) January 26, 2017
Bill Maher on Trump, Lawsuits,Climate and Pot
It’s Not “The Help” in Space. But, it Does Help. Hidden Figures Transcends Genre
No wonder this film is popular. Movie tip for this weekend – check out this word-of-mouth sensation.
The story speaks to an American Awakening.
Trump Orders all Scientific Studies to Undergo Political Review
The Trump administration is scrutinizing studies and data published by scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, while new work is under a “temporary hold” before it can be released.
The communications director for President Donald Trump’s transition team at EPA, Doug Ericksen, said Wednesday the review extends to all existing content on the federal agency’s website, including details of scientific evidence showing that the Earth’s climate is warming and man-made carbon emissions are to blame.
Ericksen clarified his earlier statements he made to The Associated Press, which reported that the Trump administration was mandating that any studies or data from EPA scientists undergo review by political appointees before they can be released to the public. He said he was speaking about existing scientific information on the EPA website that is under review by members of the Trump administration’s transition team.
As GOP Rep. Lamar Smith recently stated on the House floor, “..better to get your news directly from the President, in fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth.”
Ericksen said no decisions have yet been made about whether to strip mentions of climate change from epa.gov.
“We’re taking a look at everything on a case-by-case basis, including the web page and whether climate stuff will be taken down,” Erickson said in an earlier interview with the AP. “Obviously with a new administration coming in, the transition time, we’ll be taking a look at the web pages and the Facebook pages and everything else involved here at EPA.”
Asked specifically about scientific data being collected by agency scientists, such as routine monitoring of air and water pollution, Ericksen responded, “Everything is subject to review.”
Blowing Up on Social Media: Scientists March on Washington
There is no use in multiplying examples. The point is that we are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.
A group of researchers have proposed a March for Science. What started as a discussion on Reddit has quickly blossomed into a movement.
Organizers started a private Facebook group and Twitter account on Monday. By Wednesday afternoon, the former boasted more than 300,000 members and the latter had nearly 55,000 followers. A public Facebook page had more than 11,000 likes just five hours after going online. The explosion of support caught organizers off guard, but they’re meeting this weekend to discuss details about the date and full mission statement.
The march would be the latest in a string of actions taken by scientists following Donald Trump’s election and his inauguration as president. His administration has been widely viewed as hostile to science — from the transition period through hearings for his cabinet nominees through silencing key federal science agencies and freezing grants.
“This is not a partisan issue. People from all parts of the political spectrum should be alarmed by these efforts to deny scientific progress,” Caroline Weinberg, a medical researcher who is helping organize the march, said. “Scientific research moves us forward and we should not allow asinine policies to thwart it.”
Jonathan Foley on Scientific American blog:
So, to Mr. Trump, I would say this:
Continue reading “Blowing Up on Social Media: Scientists March on Washington”
Is Trump a Marxist?
I’m asking seriously.
Donald Trump has given Democrats an immense gift with his latest Wall cave. As I’ve noted, Mexico paying for the Trump Wall has never been mainly about budgets or money. It’s about dominance and humiliation. Countries defeated in war pay war indemnities. They are forced to agree to unequal treaties. Trump is all about dominance politics and humiliation. Forcing a foreign country to pay for a wall to keep its own citizens out of another country is almost the definition of national humiliation, as the Mexicans have themselves made abundantly. Less deadly, it’s symbolically comparable to how China forces families to pay for the bullets used to execute their relatives.
And yet here we are, one week in and Trump has managed his colossal self-own. Who’s paying for it? We’re paying for it! Or, who’s paying for it? Mexico! How? On law-away! Or with some kind of forced promissory note which they themselves reject and say they’ll never pay. Trump has made all of America into the first stiffed Trump vendor of his administration.
Journalists may feel the need to go through the motions of pretending or asking the President how he plans to get Mexico to pay for his Wall. But this is clearly nonsense. Mexico is never going to pay for his Wall. That’s obvious. As any businessperson knows, the promise and commitment you get at the beginning is always the most solid one you’ll ever get. Your leverage only goes down. Mexico will never pay for the wall. And the initial cost estimates are almost certainly low. This will be tens of billions of dollars for Trump’s ego trip. You will pay. Mexico will laugh.
The ‘Mexico will pay’ song and dance was always about dominance and power, not budgetary savings. Democrats should confront it on those terms. The precise dollar amount isn’t the point. After all the promises about his strongman power, how Trump bends the weak to his will, Trump got owned and now is sticking tax payers with the cost of his nonsensical promises about how we’re just ‘fronting’ the money. He got owned. He lied. And now he’s resorting to the same ‘oh you’ll get paid later’ flimflam he’s used to rip off countless investors over the years.
Uber Exec on Trump: “I Do Not Accept Him as My Leader”
Hmmm.
We appear to have suffered a coup engineered to the advantage of Oil Giants and a hostile foreign Petro State. (hate it when that happens)
Can the power of the Oil Industry be countered? Author Mike Roddy speculates.
Shortly after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, the Chief Technology Officer of Uber rattled off an explosive email meant for a small group of employees that quickly spread like wildfire within the company, Business Insider has learned.
In the message, CTO Thuan Pham blasted then President-elect Donald Trump as a “deplorable person,” and called his election a huge step backward — even comparing it to the rise of ruthless dictators such as Mao Tse-dong in China and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia after the Vietnam War.
The email was being circulated internally amongst employees again in the past week, as Uber has come under fire for its link to the Trump administration. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was recently named as one of 19 executives who will advise President Trump on economic issues, joining Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Disney CEO Bob Iger.
The visceral outburst by a top executive at one of the world’s most valuable private companies reflects Silicon Valley’s ongoing struggle to come to terms with a president who is deeply unpopular within the industry. Even Uber, whose outspoken CEO and aggressive business tactics have long courted controversy, appears to be divided by a crisis of conscience within the ranks as some employees weigh the costs of being perceived as a pro-Trump shop. Continue reading “Uber Exec on Trump: “I Do Not Accept Him as My Leader””
Jeff Goodell on Raising Miami Beach. How High? How Long?
Reached by phone, Miami Beach Director of Environment and Sustainability Elizabeth Wheaton says she’s seen no evidence that Miami Beach is “sinking.” (She could not comment about the City of Miami.) Though she did say some cities, especially ones in the Northeast, are dealing with sea-level rise and land subsidence, she says it’s wholly inaccurate to claim Miami Beach is, in any way, sinking into the ocean.
“What you’re seeing in the Everglades is a completely different ecosystem,” she says. “The writer was misunderstanding what that article was about. In Miami Beach, our city surveyor is out there every day, working in the city, and he has not observed subsidence or any changes in elevation.”
As for any skeptics who claim it would be impossible to know whether the sea was rising or the land was sinking, Wheaton says land surveyors use fixed “control points” to ensure they’re getting an accurate read on the rising seas.
“There’s so much misinformation about what’s happening,” Wheaton says. “That’s what breeds the skepticism. It’s so important as a region that we go beyond the conversation of if it’s happening to how, as a region, we need to be preparing.”
Then, she says flatly: “The sea levels are rising.”
