Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/04/20/senate-confirms-a-homophobic-c.html
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I haven’t read anything suggesting he’s a flat-earther, so I guess there’s that.
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I am shocked to my core that he’s not a Flat-Earther.
ETA: Jinx. @Brainspore
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The thing is, he’s not the worst agency head confirmed by this administration, not by a moon shot. That honor has to go to Scott Pruitt, with Mick Mulvaney in close second.
And we should probably be thankful that Drumpf didn’t nominate his HVAC contractor or some guy that once rented him a storage space.
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It’s getting ridiculous how far down the ladder Trump is having to reach in order to find anyone even willing to take a cabinet position with him.
There’s a lot of scumbags and cons in the world, but very few of them are dumb enough to say “Oh yes, I would like to be put under the microscope whilst also on a visibly sinking ship”.
That alone explains a lot of the people left in the administration - at this point they’re all either stupid, blind, or compromised… Or mostly all three.
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The great thing about draining the swamp is that you get access to all sorts of slimeballs
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Every confirmation of a terrible nominee makes it harder to stop the next one. “Well, we confirmed the guy who lied about his financial conflicts of interests and the guy who advocated torture and the guy who committed domestic assault and about 37 guys who had no relevant experience whatsoever, so how can we justify refusing to confirm this guy?”
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…you sure about that? I’m throwing my hat in with the HVAC guy…
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From my perspective I agree with @Faffenreffer. All other horrible character traits aside, a climate change denier can do far less damage with NASA as they already are via the EPA regulation rollbacks.
But my perspective fairly narrow, and ignorant of many/most of the other major departments and their directors,.
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Meanwhile in the Oval Office
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Well, it’s not like NASA didn’t have a nazi in charge of it before.
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I’m getting the impression that a lot of these terrible appointees are just too awful to do much damage. Or maybe those “checks and balances” aren’t completely dismantled – yet.
(Or maybe bureaucracy in general has stagnated to the point where even competent people can’t get anything done?)
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I expect you’re right, but the daily assault of ignorance, bigotry and free-floating, unveiled hatred has beaten the long view out of me. These days I am grateful for any mercy, no matter how small.
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All the ‘mavericky’ tough talk about ‘true republicans’ from senators like Flake and McCain don’t mean $h1t. They still tow the party line rubber-stamping totally unqualified dickweasels across the board. WTH is the confirmation process for if not to weed out unqualified hacks?
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Don’t be too sure. Climate research is currently the single most important mission of NASA, and more is being done here than at any other agency (including NOAA, which is not generally research-oriented, but plays more of an operational role). Bridenstine’s nomination has the potential to devastate climate research in the US.
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IIRC, the Dear Leader has already stripped most of the funding from NASA that might be applicable to climate change research. In fact, anything relating to research aimed at Earth is done for. If you can’t win on facts, then the obvious answer is to make sure there are no facts to argue.
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The former Navy Reserve pilot previously served as executive director of the Air and Space Museum
Well that doesn’t sound so bad. Seems somewhat relevant.
…& Planetarium in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Oh. No, that doesn’t seem right.
During his tenure, the nonprofit suffered financial losses, and an investigation by the Project On Government Oversight found that Bridenstine used the nonprofit’s resources to benefit a company he co-owned.
[insert head-desk gif]
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He would like to, obviously, but we’re not quite there yet. His budget didn’t make it through unchanged:
NASA’s Earth science division is set to receive $1.92 billion in the fiscal 2018 budget, funding a slate of climate research missions, including four marked for cancellation by the Trump White House in its 2018 and 2019 budget requests.
A fifth Earth science project that the Trump administration proposed canceling, the Radiation Budget Instrument, was terminated by NASA in January, and is not funded in the 2018 budget.
–Space Launch System, planetary exploration get big boosts in NASA budget – Spaceflight Now
There’s still a lot of damage that can be done by a hostile Administrator, even if Congress didn’t give Trump everything he wanted.
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Wait doesn’t NASA guard the giant ice wall. Maybe he is a Flat-Earther…
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…You do realize that swearing is fucking allowed on the boards, right?
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