Guest laugh by David Middleton
The laugh is the fact that an article demonstrating the nonessential nature of government scientists, is titled “The Shutdown Shows Just How Vital Government Scientists Are”…
ERIC NIILER SCIENCE 01.08.19
THE SHUTDOWN SHOWS JUST HOW VITAL GOVERNMENT SCIENTISTS ARE
INSTEAD OF FIGURING out how many Pacific hake fishermen can catch sustainably, as his job demands, scientist Ian Taylor is at home with his four-month old daughter, biding his time through the partial government shutdown.
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Some federal science agencies are open, such as the National Institutes for Health and the Department of Energy, since their appropriations bills were already signed by Trump. Others, such as NASA, are continuing to operate key programs such as the International Space Station, although 95 percent of its 15,000 workers were sent home on Dec. 22.
[…]
The shutdown has led to a hodgepodge of federal science-based activity across the country. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is sitting on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral ready for a planned launch on Jan. 17, but without NASA personnel to oversee testing, that liftoff will be delayed. Crews that fly over the Atlantic to check on endangered Atlantic right whales and send those positions to commercial ships are still working, but they aren’t being paid.
Weather forecasters are working during the shutdown, but hundreds of scientists from NOAA and the National Weather Service have been banned from attending the annual American Meteorological Society meeting this week in Phoenix.
[…]
The Environmental Protection Agency furloughed about 14,000 of its employees, leaving just 753 “essential” workers on the job.
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Leslie Rissler, an evolutionary biologist and program director at the NSF, tweeted last week that she had applied for unemployment benefits.
[…]
So… NASA and the EPA can maintain essential operations with only 5% of their workforce, evolutionary biologists are nonessential drains on the taxpayers, NOAA meteorologists can’t attend the American Meteorological Society convention on the taxpayers’ dime… Maybe I’m just a bit jaded, but how does the word “vital” fit in here? Can you think of a better example of a nonessential government employee than an evolutionary biologist?
Is anyone else laughing at all of the blather about government scientists not being able to attend conventions? I call them conventions as do most people I know, even though the official title is usually “conference and exposition.” If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t attend the AAPG, SEG or GCAGS* convention because my employer was tightening their belt, I’d have a lot of dollars. For that matter, I’ve even become proactive in belt-tightening… The only times I ever request to attend AAPG, SEG or GCAGS conventions are when they are in Dallas or Houston (where I can keep the costs pretty-well limited to the registration fee). Having survived multiple oil price crashes, I’ve learned that controlling costs enables companies (and paychecks) to survive downturns and to be more profitable during “booms”. I don’t recall any geologists complaining about not being able to attend the 2016 AAPG convention in Calgary because their companies were cutting costs due to the collapse in oil prices. Most of them probably felt like I did: Thankful to still have a job… if they still had jobs.
Regarding the possible delay in the launch of the privately owned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the key takeaway is that the “privatization” of spaceflight is still mostly a buzzword. If “Paul Allen, Larry Page, Eric E. Schmidt, Ram Shriram, Charles Simony, Ross Perot, Jr., Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Robert Bigelow” want to privatize spaceflight, maybe they might think about building their own launch facilities… with their own money. Or, maybe the US government should privatize NASA’s space operations.
*Abbreviations
AAPG: American Association of Petroleum Geologists
SEG: Society of Exploration Geophysicists
GCAGS: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies
Does this mean we may be getting less scaremongering and fewer new reasons/proof about climate change? I wonder why so much time, energy, and money is being spent on proving something that is supposed to be so incontrovertible and harmful instead of mitigating it?
Trump met with the Democrats today to try to work out a deal to fund the wall and open the government.
After a lot of haggling, with the Democrats saying they wouldn’t negotiate until the government was open, and then Trump said to Nancy Pelosi, “If I agree to everything you want and open the government, will you then fund the Wall?” Nancy Pelosi said, “No.”
Trump said, This meeting is over.”
Trump should probably start setting the groundwork for declaring a National Emergency. Trump will have to deal with lawsuits to get this implemented, but that should go fast, and should go in the president’s favor, and once this is done, Trump has the option of building the wall without Congress specifically funding it.
Of course, the Lefties will go nuts and accuse Trump of violating the U.S. Constitution, and all sorts of other crimes and evil motivations, and will declare the nation is in danger from an out-of-control president. But it’s all hyperbole and partisan political rhetoric.
The truth is the National Emergency Act (1976) authorizes the president to call a National Emergency unilaterally, and the law also authorizes that the president can carry out, among other things, construction, during the National Emergency, and can do so without prior funding authorization of Congress. This law is his authorization.
Before you start believing in the rogue president meme the Left will put out, keep in mind that his National Emergency Act also provides a method for Congress to overrule any actions by the president if Congress can muster enough votes to do so.
So the president can only go as far as the Congress will allow, although they do have to take active steps to stop him, if that’s what they want to do.
This law was actually written to reign in presidential power, and is probably unconstitutional in any restrictions placed on the president when it comes to the president and national defense and national security. The president is the Commander-in-Chief and has the constitutional power to defend the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.
Trump should declare a National Emergency and tell the nation that he will open up the government just as soon as the U.S. Supreme Court rules he can declare a National Emergency on the southern border under the National Emergency Act of 1976.
Meanwhile the Democrats will be raising all sorts of hell, but Trump can tell them if they don’t want him taking this action then they should authorize funding for the Wall and eliminate Trump’s need to go around them.
There IS a national emergency. Trump has tried to make a deal with the Democrats. The Democrats won’t deal for partisan political reasons. The emergency still exists. The president has to act. He can’t wait for the Democrats to play their politics any longer.
Tom, there is no “National Emergency.”
J. Philip, open your eyes.
Floyd, my eyes are open, and there still is no “National Emergency.”
Only one person in these United States can make that call.
However Dave, the courts can block it, so in fact the call by the president can be reviewed and overridden.
Oh yeah Dave, don’t forget the House of Representatives can deem an unwarranted declaration of a “National Emergency” and abuse of power which is considered a “high crime.”
218 members of the House can declare anything to be “high crimes and misdemeanors”… It takes 67 Senators to confirm that definition. The Democrats are at least 21 votes short of 67 votes in the Senate. In the meantime the Wall gets built, or at least meaningfully started… And SCOTUS will probably uphold it 5-4.
You cannot build a “wall” without money being appropriated for the purpose.
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/424314-yes-trump-has-authority-to-declare-national-emergency-for-border-wall
Another thing you seem to have forgotten about Dave, is that a lot of the land on which this “wall” will be built is private property. The government can’t build it there without either getting permission from the owner, or TAKING the land away from the owner by eminent domain. That needs to go in front of a judge.
Dave you don’t need 67 votes in the Senate, all you need is a single federal judge to find that the declaration of a “National Emergency” is an unconstitutional act.
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/424314-yes-trump-has-authority-to-declare-national-emergency-for-border-wall
Which can be immediately appealed to SCOTUS on an national security basis.
Dave the last time the SCOTUS looked at a declaration of a “National Emergency” Truman lost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIWs5VDF6ZA
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/424314-yes-trump-has-authority-to-declare-national-emergency-for-border-wall
Just be glad your sibling wasn’t also murdered by an illegal.
Thank you Dave for posting this: “There are limitations on the use of such money, and there could be strong challenges to the use of unobligated funds in other areas. There is money there to start but not nearly enough to finish such a wall without proper appropriation. ”
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Trump isn’t doing very well when his actions are challenged in court.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIWs5VDF6ZA
Trump is winning when the battleground is in the courts…
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/424314-yes-trump-has-authority-to-declare-national-emergency-for-border-wall
“Which can be immediately appealed to SCOTUS on an national security basis.”
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Stick to working in the oil business Davie, because you’re not doing all that well when it comes to the area of law.
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You seem to be confusing “emergency” and “security.”
Maybe you missed this…
Trump is winning when the battleground is in the courts…
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/424314-yes-trump-has-authority-to-declare-national-emergency-for-border-wall
Dave, Pelosi told Donald “NO.”
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He stormed out of the meeting.
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He’s acting like a 12 year old.
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I’ll bet if he sits on top of his gold plated toilet and is constipated, he’ll declare a “national emergency.”
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If he did that, I’d agree with him, because if he’s constipated, he’s full of $h_t.
So… You have nothing.
I have plenty Dave, the problem you have is your petulant, pubescent president has yet to realize that the political arena has changed due to the midterms. He can’t get away with it anymore.
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Sure he can declare a “national emergency” if he so chooses, but a wiser politician would take note of the opinion polls that tell him that a majority of American don’t want a wall, and don’t want a shutdown.
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His problem is that on national TV, he’s accepted responsibility for the shutdown. He own’s it.
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Donald’s father Fred neglected to teach his son the meaning of the word “NO.”
So… You have nothing.
What’s the matter Davie? Are you now saying the same thing over and over expecting different results?
Everything you have posted on this subject has been demonstrated to be wrong… You have nothing. Yet you keep babbling nonsense.
Dave this guy can’t seem to make a “deal.” He stormed out of a meeting with Congressional leaders saying it was a “waste of time.”
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The “Dealmaker” can’t make a deal?
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Why is that?
Wrong again…
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/424616-pence-says-trump-passed-out-candy-and-didnt-raise-his-voice-in
Trump can use the National Emergencies Act to bludgeon a deal out of Congress, just like he used the threat of tariffs to bludgeon trade deals out of the EU, Mexico, Canada and Red China… The Art of the Deal.
No Dave I’m not wrong. The president first made the mistake of accepting responsibility for the shutdown. He did it on TV, and he can’t take it back.
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He is caught between a rock and a hard place. He promised a “wall” to his base, and he cannot get it politically now that the Democrats have won control of the House.
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He owns the shutdown, and he is unable to compromise.
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He walked out of the meeting, unable to make a “deal.”
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So much for his book “The Art of the Deal.”
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He’s a failure at making a deal.
Democrats walked out ot the meeting… Because they lost.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/424616-pence-says-trump-passed-out-candy-and-didnt-raise-his-voice-in
Dave, if Trump couldn’t get funding for his “wall” in the past two years when the GOP controlled both houses of Congress, there is no way he’s going to get it now that Democrats control the House. The problem is that Trump is a political neophyte and will fail with his temper tantrum. Pelosi is a much better politician.
Trump couldn’t get funding for the wall while the Republicans controlled Congress because the Democrats could filibuster it in the Senate. The Democrat take-over of the House gave Trump the perfect opportunity to invoke the National Emergencies Act. He sandbagged the Democrats… again.
Middleton posts: “Democrats walked out ot the meeting… Because the lost.”
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I assume you’ve had a bunch of beers, and meant to type: “Democrats walked out of the meeting… Because they lost.”
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Now, don’t you know the meaning of the word “stalemate?”
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Nobody left the meeting a winner.
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Nobody left the meeting a loser
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They all left with nothing.
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No winners.
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No losers.
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Dave, your grasp of reality seems to be fleeting.
” He sandbagged the Democrats… again.”
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Nope.
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He failed to get Congressional approval when the GOP controlled Congress, now he’s going to circumvent the will of Congress after losing control of half of Congress.
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He could have invoked “National Emergency” a long time ago. Now that Congress says “NO” he’s going to do it?
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Remember Dave, this guy is not “King” ….. as much as he’s acting like one. If Congress says “NO” he needs to listen.
He *could* have invoked the National Emergencies Act a long time ago… That’s why it’s called “sandbagging.”
Try to follow along… When the GOP controlled both houses of Congress, Trump offered the Democrats a DACA deal in exchange for the wall and other immigration reforms. The Democrats rejected it and they didn’t get DACA. While the GOP still controlled the House, there was a chance that the wall might get funded through a budget reconciliation process. That never happened.
So… The Democrats take the House and the Republicans increased their majority in the Senate in 2018. With the Democrats controlling the House, the wall is dead in the minds of the Democrats. While all this is going on, caravans of illegal aliens from Central America have been attempting to invade the United States and the numbers of unaccompanied children and family units being apprehended by CPB was skyrocketing. These are the most problematic illegal aliens because they can’t be detained until their hearings.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/media-resources/stats
Now here’s where the real sandbagging comes in. President Trump declares that he will not sign any more spending bills unless the wall is funded to at least $5.6 billion. Democrats won’t budge… Roughly 25% of the government shuts down, 25% that most people won’t notice… Except…
The shutdown, itself, has become a factor in the decision whether or not to invoke the National Emergencies Act. And at least one Senate Democrat is OK with this…
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/01/08/senator_manchin_if_state_of_emergency_ends_the_shutdown_then_so_be_it.html
So… Now the Democrats are in the position of not getting DACA or anything else in exchange for the wall. President Trump may not get the entire barrier system in place under the National Emergencies Act; but he can get a big chunk of it, particularly if he starts in Texas. Texas’ State government fully backs the wall and any lawsuits filed will go to the 5th Circuit, rather than the 9th Circus. The wall gets started, Democrats get nothing and the government reopens.
MAGA!
J. Philip, a wise man once said, “There are none so blind who will not see”. I wish you well with your braille classes.
Forget him, David. His mind has crossed over into another dimension and is incapable of rational thought processes.
Remember Dave, this guy is not “King” ….. as much as he’s acting like one. If Congress says “NO” he needs to listen.
JPP, You mean like Barrack “If Congress won’t act, I will” Obama listened when congress told him no? You seem to forget that the President is not subordinate to congress, they’re two separate branches of the government and as such, each has their own powers and abilities that can be used even when the two are not in agreement. For example, if Congress passes legislation the President doesn’t like, he can say “NO” (it’s called a veto) and congress can listen or congress can override that NO if they can muster enough votes in both houses. If congress won’t give the president what he wants one way, as Obama showed, there are other ways the president can accomplish his goals. And there are ways for congress to say NO to those other ways (but they’ll require more votes in the two houses than the democrats currently have on their side). The courts (the third branch of government) can also attempt to say no, but as long as Trump is within his authority (and make no mistake, he is well within the authority as laid out in the National Emergency act like it or not) ultimately he’ll prevail in the courts (even if it end up as a 5-4 in the Supreme Court) just as he has on a number of other issues that the more liberal courts have attempted to block just because he’s Trump.
So… You have nothing
That was obvious from the way he kept jumping from talking point to talking point every time the previous talking point was smacked down only to circle back to those previously smacked down talking points. it’s like a game of whack the mole.
Dave, since you might have missed this mole I figure I’d smack it for you 🙂
JPP: The government can’t build it there without either getting permission from the owner, or TAKING the land away from the owner by eminent domain
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/424314-yes-trump-has-authority-to-declare-national-emergency-for-border-wall
Trump already declared a “National Opioid Emergency”. Most of the heroin and fentanyl comes over the border. Building a wall closes the least secure route to bring it into the USA.
Acosta makes the case for Trump: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cnns-jim-acosta-mocked-for-accidently-proving-that-border-walls-work
Floyd, the military has already been dispatched to the southern boarder. Are you telling us that our military can’t handle the job?
The military will handle the job because Congress won’t.
Well Dave, if the military is already there, and they can handle the job, then there is no reason for a “National Emergency” to be declared.
The fact that the military is there proves it is a national emergency. There were 42 national emergencies declared between 1976 and 2007 and at least two concerned trafficking, one of narcotics. The tie to the opioid crisis in obvious and legitimate.
The President already made the case that a wall is needed. Neither, ICE or the military can handle the situation with additional tools.
“The fact that the military is there proves it is a national emergency.”
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No, the military was sent there as a political stunt to ward off the hoards of women and children approaching the boarder seeking asylum.
“The President already made the case that a wall is needed. ”
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Fine, then all he needs to do is get Congress to appropriate the money for his “wall.” That’s how the system works. If Congress disagrees with him, and refuses to appropriate, then there isn’t much he can do.
Congress did that 43 years ago… https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/424314-yes-trump-has-authority-to-declare-national-emergency-for-border-wall
Need to check your premises and conclusion. Both invalid and false.
Trump will build the wall with military funds if he has to. Despite the Democrats urge to commit national suicide by wanting open borders in a country that hands out welfare cheques and food stamps; the US people know in a primal way that Trump is right. The US simply cant afford 50000 people a month illegally entering the US and then applying for asylum and then getting welfare cheques while the applications are processed. That 50000 will turn into a 100000 a month and then 200000 a month. 3 billion people in the world would instantly move to the US if they could because a welfare cheque in the US is higher than their full time paying job. Democrats want to have these people in the US because they all vote Democrat to keep the welfare gravy train happening. The money is running out and Trump knows it. That is why a wall.
If Congress disagrees with him, and refuses to appropriate, then there isn’t much he can do.
As Obama showed (“If congress won’t act, I will”), when congress refuses there are other ways to go about accomplishing your goals. Invoking the National Emergencies Act is one possible way.
It is unlikely that the “Rules of Engagement” for military will allow them to do much.
It is unlikely that the “Rules of Engagement” for military will allow them to do much.
????
Not sure what that non-sequitur is in reference to. Nobody is talking about military engagements (as in combat). What was touched up is the use of military *resources* (money, equipment & man-power) to possibly build the wall (or at least get it started).
In the Maggie Thatcher era in UK, there became known the >90% rule of privatization. The rule is that a government owned company can shed more than 90% of its workforce while improving product quality and quantity and level of service after going private. Such shedding usually took a couple of years, or more, in multiple steps, but nevertheless……. The new “Trump” rule seems to be showing the same magnitude of over-staffing even if in a different order.
Gee how much time have we got if we dont get the evolutionary biologists back to work!
“Back to *work*???
Gee how much time have we got if we dont get the evolutionary biologists back to work!
work?
“You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means” – Inigo Montoya
Still loving that GISS is on furlough. Regardless of anything else… that’s a win.
Sweden still hasnt got one after 4 months.
An alternative view: US health is at risk
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/09/epa-government-shutdown-environmental-protection-agency-nightmare
We survived, and prospered for over 200 years without an EPA. Average lifespan went up much faster, before the EPA was established, than it did after they were established. That clearly shows, with modern methods of “settled science” that the EPA is KILLING PEOPLE!!!!
Mentioning Larry Page – there is heavy metal bands sporting private Boeings.
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung&q=heavy+metal+boss+pilot+private+Boeing&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj2jtfDr-XfAhXysaQKHcxPApgQBSgAegQIDBAC&biw=360&bih=560