Rick Perry Was Right…

Guest “Only Nixon could go to China” by David Middleton

Rick Perry once wanted to abolish the Energy Department. Trump picked him to run it.
By Brad Plumer Updated Dec 13, 2016

Back in 2011, during the GOP presidential primary, Rick Perry spoke during a debate and tried to list the three federal agencies he’d abolish if elected to the White House.

“And I will tell you,” Perry said, “it is three agencies of government when I get there that are gone. Commerce, Education, and the … what’s the third one there? Let’s see.”

Then he stumbled. He couldn’t recall the third. When coaxed by other candidates and the moderator — did he mean the Environmental Protection Agency, maybe? — he drew a blank. “Sorry,” he said as he grinned sheepishly at the cameras. “Oops.”

A few minutes later, Perry remembered — it was the Department of Energy he wanted to get rid of! That was it.

That brain fart ended Perry’s presidential aspirations in 2012. But it wasn’t the end of the story: Donald Trump has reportedly picked Rick Perry to lead the Energy Department, the very agency he once kinda sorta wanted to get rid of. 

[…]

Vox

Rick Perry went on to become the best Secretary of Energy in the department’s 43 year history. For the first time since its establishment, the DOE focused on enabling the private sector to deliver reliable and affordable energy and established American Energy Dominance.

Coups have consequences

U.S. Department of Energy Announces New Biden-Harris Appointees
JULY 14, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C.  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced additional Biden-Harris Administration appointees that have joined the team to help advance President Biden’s ambitious Build Back Better agenda to combat climate change, create good-paying jobs, and win the clean energy future for all Americans. 

“DOE is thrilled to welcome these extraordinary individuals who are committed to championing climate solutions and delivering on President Biden’s promise of a more prosperous, equitable clean energy future,” said Chief of Staff Tarak Shah. “Their talent and innovative spirit are invaluable to our success and making our clean energy future a reality.”  

New appointees and their roles are listed below:

Leslie Aguilar, Special Assistant, Office of Economic Impact and Diversity  

Leslie Aguilar is a first-generation Latina who has spent most of her career working in electoral organizing, including as a Nevada Field Organizer for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign and as a Regional Organizing Director for the 2020 Coordinated Campaign. Aguilar holds a B.A. in Political Science with high honors from the University of California, Berkeley.   

Arpita Bhattacharyya, Chief of Staff, Office of the Deputy Secretary  

Arpita Bhattacharyya most recently led strategic projects at Impossible Foods, working to bring low-emission food technology to market. She previously worked at SunPower, developing commercial solar projects for Fortune 500 companies and later leading the Channel Project Development and Finance team. Bhattacharyya has also worked closely with the U.S. and international governments on collaborative climate partnerships at the Center for American Progress. Bhattacharyya holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a B.A. from Carleton College.  

Teddy Echeverria, Special Assistant, Office of Nuclear Energy  

Teddy Echeverria most recently worked on the digital organizing team for the Biden-Harris presidential campaign. Previously, he worked on the Biden presidential campaign in New Hampshire and on state and local campaigns across the country. He graduated with a B.A from Colby College.  

Adrianna Williams, Special Assistant, Office of Management  

Adrianna Williams most recently interned for NC District 20 State Senator Natalie Murdock. She was also an Expansion States Intern on the Biden-Harris campaign, served as a National Students for Biden Leader and was the Lead National Co-Chair of Black Students for Biden. In these roles, she educated young Americans and students about climate change, environmental justice, and infrastructure reform. Williams is a graduate of Duke University, where she studied Neuroscience. 

Click here for the full list of DOE Biden-Harris Administration appointees. 

US Department of Energy Diversity
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Carlo, Monte
July 21, 2021 2:06 pm

Barf — all but one are thoroughly political rats who no nothing except how to parrot the climate lies.

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  David Middleton
July 21, 2021 9:02 pm

Here is Dementia Zhou Bai Den at the top of his game, trying to answer a simple question from a CNN-shill:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/joe-biden-incoherently-babbles-asked-children-12-will-able-get-vaccinated-video/

Reply to  David Middleton
July 22, 2021 8:19 am

Viruses maybe? How about prions?

Reply to  Carlo, Monte
July 22, 2021 3:58 am

I doubt even one of the 60 appointees is a engineer. I would have expected to see engineers and chemists as key appointees. Most look rather young – hence inexperienced – and 60% are women. Perhaps all are political animals. And then of course there is their boss, a lawyer, Jennifer Granholm, who is Secretary of Energy.

While there are competent women in all fields, I do not believe that “energy” is the career choice of many women. How many go eagerly into civil, chemical and electrical engineering or into mining, manufacturing and construction – each playing a key role in the production and delivery of energy to a country? Rick Perry’s success is despite his not being an engineer but he seems to have listened not to the politicians (or climate alarmists) but competent engineers in the field of engineering and energy production.

Reply to  Michael in Dublin
July 22, 2021 8:21 am

You can be sure of that. 97% political “science” (sic), media or “environmental something-or-other” grads.

Steve Z
Reply to  Michael in Dublin
July 22, 2021 8:25 am

I also noticed a lack of scientific, technical, or engineering competence in these appointees.

Leslie Aguilar is Latina, an organizer for Kamala’s campaign, and holds a degree in Political Science from Berserkley.

Arpita Bhattacharyya developed solar panels and “low emission food technology” and climate issues and holds a degree from Carleton College (never heard of it before).

Teddy Echeverria worked on Biden’s campaign in New Hampshire, and has a B.A. from Colby College (another big-name college). What did they teach him about nuclear energy?

Adrianna Williams was leader of “black students for Biden”, so she must be young and black, but what does she know about energy “management?

Basically a bunch of political “diversity” hacks, who have barely enough knowledge to be dangerous.

Rick Perry, on the other hand, served four terms as Governor of the largest energy-producing state in the Union. While he may not have a technical degree, he had lots of experience dealing with energy-producing businesses and understood their concerns.

Reply to  Steve Z
July 23, 2021 12:12 pm

Steve Z
you have make a good point about Perry’s governorship of Texas but as an outside observer it appears to me Perry was also a man who had serious conversations with people in the know-how which enabled him to take well informed decisions.

Pauleta
July 21, 2021 2:12 pm

I guess the neuroscience graduate will use the mind power.

Patrick B
Reply to  Pauleta
July 21, 2021 3:19 pm

She was a member of the Black Students Alliance and a member of the black sorority at Duke. I’ll give you one guess what kind of power she will use. And “Neuroscience” is psychology, requiring only a couple of real science classes.

Reply to  Pauleta
July 22, 2021 10:00 am

Is she a neuroscience graduate.

  • She studied neuroscience at Duke …
  • She graduated from Duke …

But it does not say what type of a degree she has.

John Garrett
July 21, 2021 2:20 pm

None of those people are otherwise employable.

Reply to  John Garrett
July 21, 2021 2:53 pm

Neither are Biden or Harris.

redc1c4
Reply to  BobM
July 22, 2021 1:47 am

oh, i don’t know… there are several platforms i can think of, off hand, where Veep Throat could monetize videos showcasing the skills that got her where she is today…. 🙂

Joe the non climate expert
Reply to  redc1c4
July 22, 2021 5:40 am

Veep Throat

good one

Reply to  redc1c4
July 22, 2021 8:24 am

Veep Cackle-throat.

H. D. Hoese
July 21, 2021 2:41 pm

The only possible one with any resume for these might be–“Williams is a graduate of Duke University, where she studied Neuroscience” Studied neuroscience? I have a granddaughter with such a degree not from Duke, now has an MD. Could any of those know how to even start changing a tire? Give them a simple quiz related to energy, physics or chemistry perhaps. I studied differential equations a couple of times but don’t give me a quiz.

Wade
Reply to  H. D. Hoese
July 21, 2021 4:51 pm

Every single Biden appointment was chosen, not because they were competent, but because they satisfied a woke criteria. Apparently it is both racist, sexist, and homophobic to choose the person who is best suited for a job if that person has to be a straight, white, and a male. The result is predictable: Abject failure that the majority in the media will tell us is a resounding success.

Doc Chuck
Reply to  Wade
July 21, 2021 5:50 pm

Right-on Wade. Competence itself is now obviously an intolerable holdover of that old fashioned European hegemony that for a start intruded the wheel into the New World. So we’re in for quite the jarring ride on a supposedly carbon-free horse drawn primitive ‘buckboard’ carriage upon which these clowns will be transporting us all into their virtuous dreamscape at simply innumerate expense.

Reply to  Wade
July 22, 2021 8:54 pm

Straight OR white OR male.

No attribute overlap required

navy bob
July 21, 2021 2:45 pm

“bring low-emission food technology to market” How could any sane person say that with a straight face? Does that mean water wheels and mule-drawn plows? Although mules would probably be outlawed in the dark green future because of digestive gas emissions. We’re clearly ruled now by the criminally insane–insane because of their physics-defying worldview, and criminal because they’re determined to crush all opposition and bring it about by any means necessary–no matter how illegal.

Rud Istvan
Reply to  navy bob
July 21, 2021 3:34 pm

I am optimistically more sanguine (hopefully not foolishly so). Dems stole an election for Biden. Biden is incompetent, and was for decades before becoming senile. And his admin is imploding—southern border, inflation, ‘infrastructure’… This just another in al long list of examples. All of which should come back to bite hard in the 2022 election after we fix the 2020 election fraud and redistrict.

My fav from this week (so far, as is only Wednesday) was Janet Yellen, his Treasury Sec, saying publicly on Sunday talks that she saw many more months of high inflation before abating. Then on Monday, Biden said in a presser that no serious economist thinks inflation is a problem. This admits only two possibilities:

  1. Biden’s Treasury Sec appointee is not a serious economist despite having previously helmed the Federal Reserve. He appointed an incomp?
  2. Biden lied, maybe unknowingly thanks to early dementia.

Either way, not a good Dem look. And I have it all videoarchived for use next year.

Matthew Siekierski
Reply to  Rud Istvan
July 22, 2021 5:49 am

Early onset is under 65. It would just be normal dementia (if he has it, which it really looks like).

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Matthew Siekierski
July 22, 2021 9:39 am

Yes, Joe’s mental health is a problem. Even more so because Kamala Harris is completely out of her league. Harris is dumber than AOC. We don’t want either one of them running our nation.

Speaking of running the nation: If we could find out who organized the letter claiming Hunter Biden’s laptop was just Russian Disinformation, a lie which was signed by 50 top U.S. intelligence people including former CIA directors from both political parties, then we would be closer to identifying the people who are really running this country.

Who has the clout to have a letter like that written and then can get 50 of the top U.S. intelligence officials to sign off on it, even though every one of them knows they are lying.

Whoever got all this organized has a *lot* of power. If you can get 50 top intelligence officials to lie for you at the drop of a hat, you have some influence.

Who did this?

Jim Whelan
Reply to  Matthew Siekierski
July 22, 2021 2:11 pm

Some times people say “early onset” when they mean “early stage”. An easy mistake. But I think Biden seems more in the middle stages.

curly
Reply to  navy bob
July 21, 2021 3:52 pm

“… low-emission food technology…”.
So no more beans, burritos, brussel sprouts?
Reminded of Mongo from the movie Blazing Saddles.
Apologies.

Joseph Campbell
Reply to  curly
July 22, 2021 8:49 am

To “curly: Belly laugh!…

Rud Istvan
July 21, 2021 2:51 pm

They are as qualified as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. (i.e. NOT Qualified). The official Energy.gov statement about Granholm is that her first priority is to help Biden achieve net zero carbon by 2050.
Easy. No fossil fuel energy, no ‘carbon’. But a bit of a problem for suburban commuters, truckers, and airlines, which Granholm does not comprehend. Harvard lawyer, former MI AG and GOV. ZERO energy knowledge or experience.

Trying to Play Nice
Reply to  Rud Istvan
July 22, 2021 3:36 am

Jenny was part of the crooked Wayne County Democratic party who went on to governor because of the large number of obedient union members in Michigan. She screwed everything up so bad, it took Republican governor Rick Snyder a while to get the state back on track. Unfortunately, Michigan is a purple state and we now have Gretchen “Nursing Home” Whitmer as governor. She has done nothing right and has half the state up in arms. She’s a favorite of Fox News because of her stupid comments and actions. The “My governor is an idiot” signs and bumper stickers are something I thought I would never see.

Editor
July 21, 2021 2:52 pm

David, do you smile the entire time you’re preparing your posts? The reason I ask: Because I smile reading them.

Have fun,
Bob

Robert Hanson
July 21, 2021 2:54 pm

So there is no specialized knowledge or expertise here. But that doesn’t matter at all. Because the whole Biden energy plan is utterly impossible, so no matter if they were all Einstein quality folks with 40 years experience in the energy field they couldn’t make this Rube Goldberg scheme work any better than than these apparatchiks. We are going to Build It All Back Better (sic) using “technology not yet invented”. Yeah, sure…..

A few years ago Google set up a team of brilliant engineers and gave them the task of perfecting the “renewable” energy solution to AGW. These were people who totally believed the AGW sky is falling myth, and were totally committed to finding a way out. Using the backing that only a giant corporation like Google could provide, they spent four years working on it. Finally they gave up, and Google ended the project.

Why? Because they couldn’t find any solution at all. As we all know (other than Griff) building unreliable energy sources creates more Co2 than they save. With all the steel, concrete, fiberglass, etc to build a wind turbine it’s more ‘ecological’ to just use NG in the first place. Solar panels require mining rare earth minerals, and coking with coal products.

Since the project is impossible, these folks will do just as well as anyone else.

H.R.
Reply to  Robert Hanson
July 21, 2021 4:41 pm

“Since the project is impossible, these folks will do just as well as anyone else.”

The Green Nude Eel and Net Zero will cost what, $90 trillion dollars?

Yeah, I can fail just as well as these folks. But give me just $45 trillion and I can save the country a bundle while I fail.

I’m sure I can find a way to blow $45 trillion and I promise it won’t blight the landscape… and we’ll get the same result.

Win-Win!

Reply to  Robert Hanson
July 22, 2021 2:53 pm

Robert,
Google deep-sixed the findings [very politically incorrect!] but here is a 2014 IEEE.org post by one of the engineers on the “ER<C” project::
.https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/what-it-would-really-take-to-reverse-climate-change
Note that the engineers are all-in on AGW, believe in Hansen’s models, etc yet they are intellectually honest enough to say the [renewables] Emperor has on no clothes. Very refreshing. But, where are the current engineering [and science] societies?

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  B. Zipperer
July 22, 2021 3:26 pm

The current issue has an “update” written by the same two googleites. It is mostly based on how prices have dropped since 2014, and hydrogen hopefulism:

https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/engineers-you-can-disrupt-climate-change

Reply to  Carlo, Monte
July 22, 2021 11:07 pm

Carlo,
Thanks! An interesting read written by 2 very credulous Google engineers.
Such true AGW believers! They also seem to have no concept of scale.
Reading anything from Vaclav Smil.would help them get a better perspective on the difficulty of energy transitions.

Scissor
July 21, 2021 2:58 pm

DOE is full of people making six figures and multiples of six figures and other than cleaning up their own messes they don’t produce much. A lot of employees are actually contractors, some of the management of which pull in obscene seven figure incomes (much more than federal workers make).

dk_
Reply to  Scissor
July 21, 2021 3:05 pm

With you Scissor! But substitute the universe of all three- and four-letter agencies for DOE, and you’ll be quite a bit more correct.

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  Scissor
July 21, 2021 4:01 pm

Indeed, but the reality is most of the payroll (90%+) are contractors working for the DoE national labs which are all GOCO — government owned, contractor operated.

Bruce Cobb
July 21, 2021 3:16 pm

Choosing a retarded, uneducated megalomaniac as your presidential candidate certainly has consequences. Maybe next time, the Republicans will choose more wisely. One can hope.

Robert Hanson
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
July 21, 2021 3:32 pm

Let me see: lowest unemployment rate ever for all categories of workers, especially minority, US became the number one energy producer in the world, Arab nations started making nice with Israel, manufacturing started to pick back up in the US, NATO nations had to contribute more of their own share, stock market hit new highs and is still doing that, despite the China virus, North Korea stopped nuclear testing, Billions of corporate profits previously stranded overseas came back to the US. I could go on and on…..

Which of those accomplishments do you have a problem with?

MarkW
Reply to  Robert Hanson
July 21, 2021 5:54 pm

More minorities voted for Trump than any other Republican in history.

Chris*
Reply to  Robert Hanson
July 22, 2021 5:53 am

Adding to your list Rob . Tax concessions bought companies back to the USA where they employed thousands of otherwise unemployed black people. Inner city schools which badly failed the education of needy children were caste aside as Trump passed an executive decision to allow parents living in these areas the right to send their children to better schools outside their catchment areas. Banning this opportunity and returning to the status quo was the first executive decision Biden made. This placated the teachers union which is the biggest donor to the democrat party. Made America self sufficient in energy. Closed the southern border and built hundreds of miles of wall to control the flow of illegal migrants.

Rud Istvan
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
July 21, 2021 3:54 pm

BC, let’s chase down just a few facts for your TDS:
Uneducated—Wharton
Retarded—(a) aced (30) the Montreal cognition protocol Biden refuses to take
(b) multibillionaire
(c) reality TV star on the street in Hollywood
Megalomaniac—America First, not Trump first.

Next time, don’t bring your rubber knife to our gunfight.

Reply to  Rud Istvan
July 22, 2021 8:53 am

Maybe he’s channeling griff?

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
July 21, 2021 4:01 pm

KEK!

Reply to  Bruce Cobb
July 21, 2021 5:18 pm

Yes. Trump was not a polite person, unlike Biden and Obama. He wasn’t one of “us.”
He was a populist. Thus, hated by DC, the media, academia, and the huge army of well fed but useless eaters which live in this country.
He didn’t start a SINGLE war.
Imagine what our country would be like today if America had not fought:

  1. Korean War
  2. Vietnam War
  3. Gulf Wars I & 2
  4. Afghan war

I won’t talk about our being lured into fighting against the Fascists states of Japan and Germany. Most people can’t accept the fact that we were simple doing the biding of Soviet Russia when we got involved in those wars. Just note that as soon as those wars were over, we became great friends with Germany and Japan and went to war (hot and cold) against our former Communist “allies.”

And, if the many, many billions of dollars thus wasted had been used to support American industries, such as the computer chip industry. The govt has always protected the agricultural sector, resulting in Americans having abundant and cheap food produced right here at home. We will never be black mailed by foreign actors who threaten to cut off our food supply, unlike our supplies of oil, computer chips, and rare Earth metals, just to name a few things to which we are now held hostage.
And, if we had a real border.
This country has been horribly governed for decades. The ruling class in this country hates the average American because he is sick of it.
Thus, the drama of Trump. But, yes, Orange Man Bad.

Reply to  David Middleton
July 21, 2021 6:42 pm

I am saying they made awful decisions, based partly on bad information and faulty assumptions, and arrogance. I Just read Ellsberg’ s book Secrets, about his insights into the march to war in Vietnam. None of the best and the brightest had any idea of the intense distrust China had for Vietnam and Russia during that war. No attempt was made by our leadership to leverage that distrust to our political and diplomatic advantage. Instead, we just poured in troops, spending lives and $$$ for absolutely nothing.

Reply to  David Middleton
July 22, 2021 8:06 am

David Middleton

It seems someone is deliberately giving negative assessments of comments – only a few warrant it. Could you get those managing this site to block this person?

Reply to  Michael in Dublin
July 22, 2021 9:03 am

Woke-media miscreants (or one of our trolls) siccing a team of sycophants and/or robots onto the website prb’ly.

MarkW
Reply to  joel
July 21, 2021 6:01 pm

Japan might have been satisfied with regional hegemony, but Hitler’s goal had always been a world wide Third Reich filled only with Aryans.

Korea and Vietnam stopped the communists from taking over all of Asia.

Your notion that all wars are bad is delusional.

Reply to  MarkW
July 21, 2021 6:36 pm

I think Hitler’s dream of global hegemony is after the fact propaganda to justify the war against him.
He was a 19th century thinker and a primitive socialist, ie. “conservatve” economically, hating capitalists and bankers. He saw the future of Germany in almost feudalistic terms. He envisioned a Greater Germany by expansion to the East, with subjugation of the local population, which would act as serfs for the German landholders. Not making this up. The Aryan stuff, unlike Communism, had no appeal to people around the world and presented no threat to the USA, unlike the global communist movement. Hitler killed off most of the pure Aryans in his invasion of Russia, anyhow.

Juan Slayton
Reply to  joel
July 21, 2021 8:20 pm

“The Aryan stuff…presented no threat to the USA….”

The Aryan stuff presented something of a threat to people of Jewish descent everywhere, including two or three in the USA. But I suppose if Russia had not lured us into war, Hitler could have completed his ethnic purification and the world would today be much more peaceful.
/sarc

Reply to  Juan Slayton
July 21, 2021 11:14 pm

Hitler completed his ethnic cleansing throughout most of Western Europe. Hitler’s victory over Russia was not assured. We could simply have given Russia enough aid so they could hold the Germans off, and then, as the cynics said, help the Germans if the Russians began to win. It would have been so much better if both those evil regimes were weakened and destroyed.
At no time in the war was Allied military strategy altered to interfere with this ethnic cleansing.
If you read about the Holocaust, from Nazi versions, the fate of the Jews was decided when the USA entered the war. The only thing holding the Nazi’s back in their ethnic cleansing was their fear that the USA would enter the war if they started up their lethal campaign against the Jews. The greatest fear of the Germans was US entry into the war. The dictator was quoted as agreeing that the Germany had no chance to win the war if the USA entered.
People also forget that the successful naval blockade of Europe by the English navy, and war in the East, caused severe food shortages in German controlled areas. Western Europe then, as in Napoleon’s time, and even today, has to import food to survive. The German army lived off local food supplies, and common German soldiers sent food home to Germany when they could.
There simply wasn’t enough food for everybody, and the Germans decided guess who would starve to death first.
That is to say, aside from killing civilians with indiscriminate bombing of German cities, “we” were also starving people to death.
Amusing side note: The die hard Germans at Normandy thought they could beat the USA. When captured, and they saw all the cans of Spam, the die hards admitted they had to chance. They couldn’t imagine the wealth of a country that could ship food across the Atlantic to feed its Army.
I conclude from all those down votes that most people in the Anglosphere think “we” won World War II and it was a triumph of democracy. Look at a world map from 1933 and from 1953, and color in countries which are democratic, fascist, and communist in each map. The international communist movement won that war, hands down. There can be no question about that. The Europeans were all in the process of losing their colonies, too, may of which were flirting with communism. If communism hadn’t simply self-destructed due to its economic insanity, communism would be very widely spread today.

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  joel
July 22, 2021 5:27 am

If you read about the Holocaust, from Nazi versions, the fate of the Jews was decided when the USA entered the war. The only thing holding the Nazi’s back in their ethnic cleansing was their fear that the USA would enter the war if they started up their lethal campaign against the Jews. The greatest fear of the Germans was US entry into the war.

Total nonsense—the SS etc. were ki1ling Jewish people right from the get-go in 1939 in Poland.

Trying to Play Nice
Reply to  joel
July 22, 2021 3:55 am

I hardly think we entered World War II because of Communist Russia. Read up on an incident on December 7, 1941. You really need to get an education and stop reading the garbage you currently believe.

Reply to  Trying to Play Nice
July 22, 2021 7:10 am

The US govt presented Japan with an ultimatum. Get out of China or else. The else was a total economic embargo including a complete cut off of oil, which would have destroyed Japan’s economy and neutered its military. We knew it. They knew it. The US govt was confident Japan would go to war. It was their only option. The US govt was expecting the first blow in the Far East (Dutch East Indies or the Philippines). The FDR administration was rapidly building up military assets in the Philippines, in part by denuding Pearl Harbor of its B17’s (crucial for surveillance) and fighter planes, which were sent to Clark Field in the Philippines. The US govt knew almost to the day when the Japanese would strike. It followed the transit of Japanese troop conveys leaving Japan. They just couldn’t locate the Japanese fleet. They knew days before Pearl Harbor the war was on. The Japanese were telling anybody who would listen that there would be war if the oil embargo was not lifted. The US govt just didn’t know that Pearl would be the target. (That is another whole story.)
About Communist Russia:At this time Japan was up to its neck in a war in China, which Russia,using its Chinese agents, had enlarged. Anything to convince the Japanese not to attack Russia. It was a “real stroke of luck” for the Russians that the Japanese decided to attack the USA. I have never read a convincing rationale for the USA’s obsession with preventing Japanese expansion into China, whereas after the war we let Mao and the Communists, with Russian backing, to overrun China.
We used to laugh at the Russian paranoia about “spies everywhere.” (Stalin, for example, thought that Mao might be a Japanese agent. ) If you read about the Venona transcripts, you will find that the Russians had agents of influence and spies throughout the US govt, including the White House (Harry Hopkins) and the Vice President (Henry Wallace.)
And, to reemphasize, look at the outcome of WW II? Who actually benefited?

Reply to  joel
July 22, 2021 8:58 am

The Korean War saved S Korea from the Maoists-Communists — look at N Korea now. The other wars I’d provisionally agree w/you about.

Reply to  beng135
July 22, 2021 10:17 am

We did save South Korea from communist domination. But, what good did that do for the USA? 50,000 or so American boys died for that outcome. Not a good trade in my opinion.
It was just another example of the USA getting involved in the post-colonial wars of other nations. Korea had been a Japanese colony. So, we got ourselves involved in a civil war in a former Japanese colony. That is exactly what we did in Vietnam, only it was a former French colony. The difference was we fought to win in Korea, whereas victory in Vietnam was off the table from the get go.
People also forget that Korea and Vietnam are naturally afraid of domination by their big neighbors, Russia and China, with long histories of conflict. Our leaders made no effort to allow unification of those countries by indigenous forces, with whom we could have worked once they were in control and for whom we could have served as a counter weight to their big neighbors. Look how well we get along with Vietnam today, compared to the continuing problems we hare having in Korea.

MarkW
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
July 21, 2021 5:52 pm

The most successful president since Reagan, yet you still hate him because you don’t care for his style.

It must really suck to be you, to hate successful people so much.

Aksurveyor
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
July 21, 2021 6:16 pm

Trump is still living rent free in your small feeble mind I see. LOL

John Endicott
Reply to  Aksurveyor
July 22, 2021 10:54 am

Well it is very roomy is Brucie’s head, what with the lack of a brain to fill up the space. 😉

Trying to Play Nice
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
July 22, 2021 3:51 am

I think a degree from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce qualifies as education. I won’t dignify the other nasty comment.

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” — Samuel Clemens

Rud Istvan
July 21, 2021 3:41 pm

A separate observation. The Department of Energy gave us the costly NIF and ITER fusion boondoggles, the hosed up EIA LCOE estimates for renewables (previous posts here and at Climate Etc), and NREL, which has invented exactly zero commercializable energy technology in its entire existence. Rick Perry was right—useless, get rid of it.

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  Rud Istvan
July 21, 2021 4:14 pm

One exception is the NREL III-V semiconductor program, from which the GaP/GaAs/Ge triple cell originated, and the IMM (inverted metamorphic) cell. But the primary application of both has been aerospace, where W/kg is king. The first Mars rover used Spectrolab GaP/GaAs/Ge cells.

Today DoE has largely replaced the PV-semiconductor research at NREL with The Search for The Magic Battery, and plastic throw-away solar cells that will never be useful for anything.

Another success is the glass/EVA/Si/Tedlar module design, which came out of the Flat Solar Array program at JPL (mostly predated NREL).

Rud Istvan
Reply to  Carlo, Monte
July 21, 2021 4:42 pm

True, I skipped triple junctions. But note I qualified with commercializable. A few NASA space probes ain’t ever commercial in my book.

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  Rud Istvan
July 21, 2021 8:54 pm

I wasn’t trying to quibble, but just about every PV array launched into Earth orbit uses III-V triples, its not just Mars.

Ratioing the amount of the budget spent on them with the entirety of NREL over the years produces a very small percentage. (And the IMM development wasn’t DoE money at all, instead was mostly DoD as subcontracts.)

mark from the midwest
July 21, 2021 4:11 pm

The only plus out of this is that they all seem so absolutely unqualified that they will spend a great deal of time spinning their wheels.

The other thing that seems odd, can anyone recall a time when an adminstration was not referenced only by the name of the President? This Biden-Harris thing is almost an admission that Biden is really out of it.

Joe Crawford
Reply to  mark from the midwest
July 22, 2021 8:16 am

Don’t forget that both Biden and Harris have on occasion referred to it as the Harris-Biden administration. I doubt any of these were just a miss-speak, more likely a slip-of-the-tongue :<)

Old Retired Guy
July 21, 2021 4:13 pm

David, it’s probably not much comfort, but such appointments of unqualified political supporters has been going on for a long time. Way back early in the Clinton years I did an Inside Washington program sponsored by Brookings. The background of most of the appointees we met with were pretty similar to the clown posse you listed.

July 21, 2021 4:52 pm

Teddy Echeverria with a B.A from Colby College now working the Office of Nuclear Energy reminds me of hapless Star Trek Chekov character(1986 Star Trek 4). Chekov is haplessly bumbling around asking strangers on the street for directions to the “nuclear wessels.”

n.n
July 21, 2021 4:54 pm

Beware urbane hogs in political dress.

Pathway
July 21, 2021 5:44 pm

These appointees are in reality just commisars.

John Endicott
Reply to  David Middleton
July 22, 2021 10:57 am

Now, now. No need to insult summer interns 😉

Abolition Man
July 21, 2021 7:11 pm

David,
I wonder just how much longer the Bai Den Regime will be able to get anything done! With mounting evidence of corruption and voter fraud, we could well see the number of Americans believing this admin is illegitimate rise from the current 35-40% to well over half of the population in the next few months! Obviously they are trying to jam as much hope and spare change down our throats as possible before the house of cards collapses! Gotta get as many obedient, useful idiots into positions of power; but there’s a good chance that our government will be effectively paralyzed up to the 2022 election! Wouldn’t that be great?
At least they wouldn’t be able make anything worse!

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  Abolition Man
July 22, 2021 5:19 am

The Senate is already voting on a $3+trillion “infrastructure” bill they haven’t even written yet! Chuckie Schumer at his finest.

Douglas B.
July 21, 2021 8:02 pm

Do any of these people know anything about energy generation, energy resources, energy infrastructure, or calculating efficiency?

niceguy
July 21, 2021 8:04 pm

So the guy wouldn’t defund the CDC nor the EPA, and yet he was considered a conservative?

niceguy
Reply to  David Middleton
July 21, 2021 8:51 pm

Either. Trump now regret doing nothing while the country was burning…

Carlo, Monte
July 21, 2021 8:57 pm

Looks like the Harris-Biden shills made an organized effort to push as many minus buttons as possible.

Reply to  Carlo, Monte
July 22, 2021 9:08 am

Yeah. Next thing, they’ll be giving griff et al pluses.

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  beng135
July 22, 2021 10:33 am

Notice that none of griff et al showed up yet?

H.R.
July 21, 2021 8:57 pm

Hahahahahaha!

The bots are busy.

The downvotes are welcome. It keeps them from making the usual inane, no-thought-required, narrative-of-the-day talking points. Whew! That’s a welcome relief.

Hahahahahahaha!

OK, contest time. Who gets the most downvotes?

We’ll tally them up and see if it’s just because the poster is particularly hated or if the comment is too close to the mark.

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  H.R.
July 21, 2021 9:05 pm

I got a minus-5 already!

H.R.
Reply to  Carlo, Monte
July 21, 2021 9:37 pm

Eh, I’ve only got minus one so far, Carlo. I’m coming up on the inside track, though. I’ll pass you on the straightaway.

😜

🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣


Seriously, I’m finding it quite amusing. If ever there was a bunch of more self secure, comfortable in their own skin, contemplative and knowledgeable people commenting in one place as are here on WUWT… OK, I haven’t run across that site yet, but I’ll be a regular there too when I do find it.

What? The bots think a little [♫♪ sad trombone ♫♪] will make anyone here pee their pants and run away?

“I don’t think so, Tim.”
~Al Boreland

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  H.R.
July 21, 2021 9:58 pm

Check again, I got a couple minus-13s now!

They even downvoted my mostly positive review of the DoE PV program!

And yeah, it is amusing that this is the only ammo they have to support their climate lies.

July 21, 2021 9:01 pm

Note to Moderators: the +- comment rating app appears to be broken on this thread. Hijacked?

Reply to  David Middleton
July 22, 2021 9:11 am

I see. I think it’s not about you, David, or climate for that matter. It’s about Traitor Joe and his cabal team. The little red worms show up to this post in particular to support the worst, most egregious scoundrels and thieves, commie seditionists, and betrayers of America. The inarticulate dumb and dumbers have no talking points, only deviltry.

They don’t argue; they sabotage. Can’t tear this country down fast enough. TJ’s appointees are parasites with zero expertise in the fields they pollute, and their filthy rabble is ecstatic about it. It can’t be mind control because it’s mindless. More like a skunk parade. Mask up, bend over, stick your head in all the way.

John
July 21, 2021 9:46 pm

what a line up of nothings
lick arse and you get a reward

Ed Zuiderwijk
July 22, 2021 1:15 am

I notice the trolls are out in force. One shouldn’t run pieces like this in the night.

July 22, 2021 1:39 am

Only three?
Clearly not enough ambition.

redc1c4
July 22, 2021 1:44 am

WASTF.

the Clown Car Junta rolls on… at least until the 2nd civil was goes hot, but that is going to be beyond ugly.

lets hope sanity breaks out first.

Trying to Play Nice
July 22, 2021 3:16 am

“Leslie Aguilar is a first-generation Latina”. So what ethnicity were her parents?

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  Trying to Play Nice
July 22, 2021 5:23 am

I saw that and also did a head-scratch…

Reply to  Trying to Play Nice
July 22, 2021 10:55 am

I missed that. Yeah that makes no sense at all.

Chuck no longer in Houston
July 22, 2021 8:07 am

What’s with all the down voting here? The trolls are out in force but gutless to respond to the points made, I guess.

Лазо
July 22, 2021 8:23 am

Same type/kind of people running CARB, CPUC, CalEnergy here in California. Political hacks, no horse sense, no experience in the industries they regulate. Clueless and hopeless.

Jim Whelan
July 22, 2021 2:08 pm

There is no better appointee for any government organization than someone who wants to eleiminate the organization.