The evidence keeps piling up that Trump simply will NOT tolerate anything that contradicts his opinions and/or what bullshit he wants to sell to the public. Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s quote about science being true whether you believe it or not is something Trump will make illegal if he can. And he’s closer to having that ability than we want to admit. For now, the famously climate change denying Trump is ordering two satellites that have been collecting data proving just how full of sh*t he is have been ordered DESTROYED!
I was stunned when I read this article from Futurism. In part because it shows just how intently Trump has his minions working to root out any and every thing the govt. does including research that proves he’s wrong. If it takes illegal budget moves to have NASA kill off two hugely and low-cost beneficial projects then by god Trump will order them killed off. In this case we are talking about two satellites that combined cost only $15 Million a year to operate and each has years of service life left. Keep in mind that NASA’s annual budget is $25.4 BILLION. These two satellites don’t even amount to tip money in all that.
What they do however is collect valuable data for oil companies (which of course don’t like said data) and farmers. For that latter group it means better ability to predict weather patterns. If you live or have ever lived in farm country you know how much weather matters, both at a given time and the seasonal forecast. So yes, these satellites are hugely important and to a group of people who traditionally vote Republican. Back in southern Illinois where I was born and lived my early adult life when farmers said “Democrat” it was unless in church preceded by the word “goddam” – as in “Goddam Democrats. Despite all the programs from rural electrification to price support, crop insurance and loan programs Democrats championed (and which they flock to) and conservatives/Republicans fought tooth and nail.
The observatories provide detail carbon dioxide measurements across various locations, allowing scientists to get a detailed glimpse of how human activity is affecting greenhouse gas emissions.
Former NASA employee David Crisp, who worked on the Orbiting Carbon Observatories’ instruments, told NPR that current staffers reached out to him
“They are asking me very sharp questions,” he said. “The only thing that would have motivated those questions was [that] somebody told them to come up with a termination plan.”
It’s easy to get caught up in things like firing high level officials, like just happened when jobs numbers were released and Trumpty-Dumpty feared said numbers would be understood by even dumbass MAGAs to not be good. For sure, ‘fire the messenger’ applies to science. We’ve seen stories about cuts to higher education institutions that have devastated longtime research projects. However a lot goes on within the govt. itself and it’s a lot easier to hide. As the linked article notes NASA has many more research projects on the chopping block. Funding for many this administration is ordering killed off has already been allocated. That makes it illegal for Team Trump to just say “Get rid of this project” but we know Trumpty doesn’t care jack about laws.
He denies climate change and research that proves it’s real is something he simply won’t allow. So these two satellites, one attached to the ISS and the other in it’s own free standing orbit will be destroyed. The one out there on it’s own can be de-orbited and will burn up in the atmosphere. It’s unclear how they’ll destroy the one attached to the space station. Given the dumbass goobers Trump hires I shudder at what they will order NASA to do.
What’s clear is we have a President hell-bent on taking action that will make us a second rate country. The national pride when we won what when I was growing up was called the “Space Race” was enormous. We then turned around and ceded ground to the USSR, to the point where THEY were the ones with an orbiting space station and we weren’t sending anyone up, or continuing astounding projects like the Voyager missions – which STILL are out there transmitting priceless data. For too long we had to rely on freaking Russia to transport our astronauts to and from the space station!
Still, NASA managed to claw us back up to the top of the space exploration hill. However as the linked article says we are rapidly heading back into ‘also-ran’ status:
The two observatories are only two of dozens of space missions facing existential threats in the form of the Trump administration’s proposed 2026 fiscal year budget. Countless scientists have been outraged by the proposal, arguing it could precipitate an end to the United States Leadership in space.
But hey, at least the government won’t be generating and publishing scientific stuff that contradicts our Orange Painted Turd-God Emperor.
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Your mention of farmers being long-longtime Republican voters is a timely reminder that the GOP bullshit machine’s been running far longer than Trumpler or MAGAt have been around. Farmers aren’t stupid people, but they’ve bought the lies from the right wing despite the beneficial programs offered to them by Goddam Democrats. Personally, I can’t figure out why this should be so.